SCIENCE    AND 
THE     CRIMINAL 


UNIFORM     WITH     THIS    BOOK 

HYPNOTISM     AND 
SUGGESTION 

By 
Bernard  Hollander,  M.D. 

"  It  is  the  work  of  a  man  of  estab- 
lished reputation,  who  has  devoted 
himself  for  years  to  the  subject,  and 
whose  aim  it  is  to  tell  what  Hypnotism 
really  is,  what  it  can  do,  and  to  what 
conclusions  it  seems  to  point." — Globe. 


SCIENCE    AND 
THE    CRIMINAL 

BY 

C.  AINSWORTH  MITCHELL 


BOSTON 

LITTLE,  BROWN,  AND  COMPANY 

1911 


tW* 


013 


To 
Mark  Hanbury  Beaufoy,  Esq.,  J. P. 

AS 

A  Mark  of  Regard  and  Esteem 


260095 


(  ///, 


'y/f//  rd/vrl  ///r.    '/<//< //Hit y ;  /  ftt 


y/.*//-/' 


\ 


.////  : 


.hM  *■„//, 


TRIAL   OF   CAROLINE    RUDD 


Frontispiece 


PREFACE 

In  the  following  pages  I  have  endeavoured  to  give 
some  account  of  the  ways  in  which  scientific  discovery 
has  been  utilised  in  the  struggle  between  society  and 
the  criminal. 

I  have  tried  to  describe  the  principles  upon  which 
different  kinds  of  scientific  evidence  are  based,  and 
at  the  same  time  to  bring  human  interest  into  what 
would  otherwise  tend  to  be  dry  detail  by  giving  an 
outline  of  trials  in  which  such  evidence  has  been  given. 
It  is,  perhaps,  hardly  necessary  to  mention  that  in 
many  of  these  illustrative  trials  the  accused  persons 
were  proved  innocent  of  the  charges  fcrought  against 
them,  and  that  although  their  cases  were  tried  in  the 
criminal  courts  the  title  of  the  book  in  no  way  applies 
to  them. 

For  the  accounts  of  the  older  trials  I  have  drawn 
freely  upon  Cobbett's  State  Trials,  Paris  and  Fon- 
blanque's  Medical  Jurisprudence,  and  the  first  edition 
of  Taylor's  Medical  Jurisprudence,  while  I  must  also 
acknowledge  my  indebtedness  to  the  Circumstantial 
Evidence  of  Mr.  Justice  Wills  and  the  recent  excellent 
lectures  on  Forensic  Chemistry,  by  Mr.  Jago. 

In  the  later  cases  I  have  mainly  relied  upon  con- 
temporary accounts  and  upon  my  own  impressions 
of  some  of  the  trials  at  which  I  have  been  present. 


Vlll  PREFACE 

My  best  thanks  are  due  to  all  those  who  have  given 
me  valuable  and  ungrudging  assistance.  In  particular 
I  would  mention  Major  Richardson,  who  has  kindly 
given  me  a  photograph  of  one  of  his  trained  blood- 
hounds and  has  allowed  me  to  quote  the  description 
of  an  actual  man  hunt  with  bloodhounds,  from  his 
book,  War,  Police,  and  Watch  Dogs  ;  and  Mademoiselle 
Arlette  Clary  (and  the  Daily  Mirror)  who  have  supplied 
me  with  a  photograph  of  a  Paris  police  dog. 

I  am  further  indebted  to  the  late  Sir  Francis  Galton 
and  his  publishers,  Messrs.  Macmillan  &  Co.,  who  gave 
me  permission  to  reproduce  illustrations  from  his 
book  on  Finger  Prints ;  and  to  Mr.  Thorne  Baker 
and  the  Daily  Mirror  for  photographs  illustrating  the 
use  of  telegraphy  in  transmitting  portraits. 

The  excellent  drawings  of  the  hairs  of  different 
animals  were  made  by  my  friend  Mr.  R.  M.  Prideaux, 
and  are  reproduced  here  by  the  kind  permission  of 
Messrs.  Scott  Greenwood  &  Co. 

Finally,  I  would  thank  the  proprietors  of  Knowledge 
and  the  Editor,  Mr.  Wilfred  Mark  Webb,  for  the  loan 
of  various  blocks  and  for  permitting  me  to  make 
use  of  material  from  several  articles  of  mine  on 
handwriting,  which  have  appeared  in  that  journal. 

C.  A.  M. 

White  Cottage, 

Amersham  Common, 

Buckinghamshire. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I 
Introduction 

Conflict  between  the  Law-maker  and  the  Law-breaker — 
Illustrations  of  Deductive  Reasoning  in  Criminal  Cases 
— Scientific  Evidence — Scientific  Assistance  for  the  Accused 
— Instances  of  Advantages  of  Conflict  of  Scientific  Evidence 
— Scientific  Partisanship.  ...... 


CHAPTER  II 
Detection  and  Capture  of  the  Criminal 

Contrasts  between  Eighteenth,  Nineteenth  and  Twentieth 
Centuries — Margaret  Catchpole — Tawell — Crippen — Por- 
traits and  the  Press — Charlesworth  Case — Bloodhounds — 
Police  Dogs — Circumstantial  Detection  ....       22 

CHAPTER  III 

Personal  Identification 

McKeever's  Experiment  on  Fallibility  of  Eye-witnesses — 
Gorse  Hall  Murder — Cases  of  Mistaken  Identity — Gun- 
flash  Recognition — Self-deception — Tichborne  Case.  .       37 

CHAPTER  IV 
Systems  of  Identification 

Photography — Anthropometry — Finger-prints      and      their 

Uses .  .  .48 

CHAPTER  V 
Identification  and  Handwriting 

Heredity — Emotional    Influences — Effects    of    Disease     on 

Handwriting 70 


PAGE 


X  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  VI 
Evidence  as  to  Handwriting 

Illustrative  Cases — Handwriting  Experts  •         .       85 

CHAPTER  VII 
Forged  Documents 

Use  of  Microscope — Erasures — Photographic  Methods — Type- 
written Matter — Examinations  of  Charred  Fragments — 
Forgery  of  Bank  Notes.  ......       93 

CHAPTER  VIII 
Distinguishing  Inks  in  Handwriting 

Elizabethan     Ink — Milton's    Bible — Age  of    Inks — Carbon 

Inks — Herculaneum  MSS. — Forgery  of  Ancient  Documents     105 

CHAPTER  IX 
Two  Notable  Trials 

Trial  of  Brinkley— Trial  of  Robert  Wood  .         .         .         .116 

CHAPTER  X 
Sympathetic  Inks  .    iso 

CHAPTER  XI 
Remarkable  Forgery  Trials 

Trials—  William     Hale — The     Perreaus — Caroline     Rudd — 

Dr.  Dodd— Whalley  Will  Case— Pilcher,  etc.  .  .  .135 

CHAPTER  XII 
Identification  of  Human  Blood  and  Human  Hair 

Structure  of  Blood — Human  Blood — Blood  of  Animals — 
Blood  Crystals— Libellers  of  Sir  E.  Godfrey— Trial  of 
Nation  in  1857 — Physiological  Tests — Precipi  tines — First 
Trial  in  France — Gorse  Hall  Trial9 — Human  Hair — Hairs 
of  Animals  .........     154 


CONTENTS  XI 

CHAPTER  XIII 
Early  Poisoning  Trials 

PAGB 

Murder    of    Sir    T.    Overbury — Mary    Blandy — Katharine 

Nairn,  etc. 171 

CHAPTER  XIV 
Notable  Poisoning  Trials 

Use  of  Poisons — Arsenic  and  Antimony — Chapman  Case — 
Strychnine  in  Palmer  Trial — Physiological  Tests — Case  of 
Freeman — Error  from  Quantitative  Deductions — Poisonous 
Food  Given  to  Animals — Mary  Higgins— ^Negative  Result 
of  Physiological  Tests — Hyoscyamus  Poisons — Crippen 
Case — Experiment  on  Cats — Time  Limit  for  Action  of 
Arsenic — French  Case  .  .  .  .  .  .  .190 

CHAPTER  XV 
The  Maybrick  Case     .       .       .206 

CHAPTER  XVI 
Adulteration  of  Food 

National  Loss  from  Adulteration — "  Adulterated  "  Elec- 
tricity— The  Beer  Conner — Conflict  of  Evidence — The 
Notice  Dodge — Preservatives — Standards  for  Food — Court 
of  Reference — Administration  of  the  Law        .  .  .214 

Index 239 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

trial  of  Caroline  rudd  .         .         .  Frontispiece 

WAR   PLAN   SENT   BY   WIRELESS   TELEGRAPHY  .  .  24 

PHOTO   SENT   BY   TELEGRAPHY   FROM    PARIS     ...  26 

PORTRAIT   SENT   BY    "  WIRELESS  "  .  .  .  .28 

MAJOR   RICHARDSON'S   MAN-TRACKER    "  PATHAN  "    .  .30 

FRENCH   POLICE   DOG  ......  32 

PURKENJE's   STANDARD   FINGER-PRINTS  ...  64 

TYPES   OF  FINGER-PRINTS 66 

HEREDITY   IN   HANDWRITING  .  .  .  .  .71 

INFLUENCE   OF   TRAINING   ON   HANDWRITING  .  .  74 

SIGNATURES  OF  NAPOLEON  AT  DIFFERENT  PERIODS  OF  HIS 

CAREER 77 

writers'  cramp 78 

specimen  of  agraphia 78 

writing  of  lenau,  before  and  during  insanity     .  79 

writing  of  holderlin,  before  and  during  insanity  79 

mirror  writing  in  paralysis  .....  80 

hypnotic  handwriting 82 

garibaldi's  signature 83 

detection  of  forgery  by  means  of  camera  and 
microscope 100 

XUi 


XIV  LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

FURTHER    SPECIMENS    OF    DETECTION    OF    FORGERY,    AND 

TESTS  TO  DISTINGUISH  OLD  FROM  NEW  INKS         .  .102 

ELIZABETHAN   DOMESTIC   RECIPE   FOR   INK       .  .  .107 

THE  TINTOMETER  .  .  .  .  .  .  .109 

GOAT'S   AND   COW'S   HAIR       .  .  .  .  .  .162 

KANGAROO'S  AND  HUMAN  HAIR,  AND  THE  HAIR  OF  A  CAT 

AND    A   DOG     ........       164 

FIBRES   OF   CHINESE   SILK 164 

RABBIT'S   AND   HORSE-HAIR 166 

WOOL  FIBRES   FROM   DIFFERENT   BREEDS   OF  SHEEP  .  168 

COTTON   AND   FLAX   FIBRES 170 

ANNE  TURNER 172 


Science   and   the   Criminal 


CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTION 


Conflict  between  the  Law-maker  and  the  Law-breaker — 
Illustrations  of  Deductive  Reasoning  in  Criminal 
Cases — Scientific  Evidence — Scientific  Assistance  for  the 
Accused — Instances  of  Advantages  of  Conflict  of  Scientific 
Evidence — Scientific  Partisanship. 

In  the  constant  state  of  warfare  between  the  law- 
maker and  the  law-breaker,  which  began  when  man- 
kind first  organised  itself  into  communities  and  has 
existed  ever  since,  every  new  invention  or  practical 
application  of  scientific  discovery  has  supplied  each 
side  with  new  weapons  frequently  of  much  greater 
precision. 

The  advantage  thus  conferred  tends  to  be  on  the 
side  of  the  law-maker  but  not  invariably  so  ;  for  in 
spite  of  all  the  facilities  of  investigation  now  available 
it  is  surprising  how  many  crimes  remain  undetected, 
or  how  frequently  in  suspicious  cases  it  is  impossible 
to  discover  the  truth.  The  law-breaker's  primitive 
weapon  of  natural  cunning  has  thus  often  proved 
more  than  a  match  for  all  the  weapons  at  the  disposal 
of  his  opponent. 

There  is  much  to  be  said,  therefore,  for  the  sugges- 
tion which  has  recently  been  put  forward  on  many 

l 

t— (2I8r) 


2  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

sides  that  a  department  specially  trained  for  the  work 
of  criminal  investigation  should  be  created. 

Under  the  present  conditions  the  rank  and  file  of 
the  detective  force,  recruited  as  it  is  from  the  best 
of  the  uniformed  policemen,  contains  many  men  of 
acute  intellect  and  reasoning  capacity,  but  it  cannot 
be  doubted  but  that  in  many  cases  their  efficiency 
would  have  been  enormously  increased  by  a  scientific 
training. 

The  present  system  somewhat  recalls  that  under 
which  doctors  acquired  their  knowledge  of  medicine 
in  the  early  part  of  last  century.  Their  mistakes 
taught  them  what  not  to  do,  but  in  the  meantime  the 
patient  sometimes  died. 

Methods  of  scientific  reasoning  so  as  to  draw  deduc- 
tions from  observed  facts  cannot  be  acquired  by 
solitary  night  watches  upon  a  "  beat,"  nor  does  the 
facility  for  breaking  up  a  tangle  in  traffic  which  the 
constable  acquires  as  the  outcome  of  his  daily  duties, 
necessarily  render  him  more  capable  of  extricating 
from  a  mass  of  confused  details  the  essential  facts 
upon  which  stress  should  be  laid. 

In  some  of  the  unsolved  mysteries  that  have  occurred 
during  the  last  few  years  the  presence  of  a  highly 
trained  intellect  at  the  first  hour  of  the  investigation 
might  conceivably  have  led  to  the  detection  of  the 
criminal.  As  a  rule,  it  is  only  after  the  first  examina- 
tion is  over  and  the  case  appears  likely  to  be  a  difficult 
one,  that  the  best  brains  of  the  department  are  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  facts,  and  it  may  then  be  too  late 
for  effective  action. 

It  should  be  made  possible  for  a  man  who  possesses 


INTRODUCTION  3 

a  facility  for  this  type  of  work  to  join  the  criminal 
investigation  department  without  having  to  go  through 
the  routine  work  of  a  police  constable,  which  will 
probably  add  nothing  to  his  powers  of  following  up 
a  clue  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  this  period  of  probation 
should  be  occupied  by  practical  training  in  scientific 
methods  of  working. 

The  present  conditions  both  of  payment  and  of 
status  are  not  of  the  kind  that  will  attract  the  highest 
type  of  brain  to  the  work  of  criminal  investigation, 
and  yet  there  is  no  reason  why  it  should  not  be 
made  to  offer  the  advantages  of  other  branches  of 
professional  work. 

An  apt  illustration  of  the  use  of  acute  observation 
and  deduction  in  solving  a  mystery  is  afforded  by  the 
strange  story  of  a  shooting  accident,  that,  according 
to  a  writer  in  one  of  the  leading  morning  papers,  took 
place  many  years  ago. 

A  country  gentleman  was  found  lying  dead  upon  a 
sofa,  with  the  whole  of  the  charge  of  a  sporting  gun 
in  his  body.  The  discharged  gun  was  hanging  in  its 
usual  place  upon  the  wall,  and  there  were  no  indica- 
tions of  any  struggle  having  taken  place.  All  the 
circumstances  apparently  pointed  to  the  man  having 
been  murdered  in  his  sleep,  for  it  was  impossible  for 
him  to  have  shot  himself  and  have  then  replaced  the 
gun  upon  the  wall,  and  strong  suspicion  fell  upon  one 
of  the  servants  in  the  house. 

This  man  was  arrested,  and  would  probably  have 
been  convicted  had  it  not  been  for  the  detective 
noticing  that  the  dead  man's  watch,  which  had  been 
smashed  by  some  of  the  shot,  had  been  stopped  early 


4  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

in  the  afternoon,  and  that  at  exactly  the  same  moment 
the  sun  was  focussed  through  a  bottle  of  water  that 
was  standing  upon  the  table  in  such  a  way  that  the 
ray  fell  upon  the  nipple  of  the  gun  upon  the  wall. 

Accordingly  he  loaded  the  gun  again,  hung  it  in 
the  same  spot,  and  placed  a  dummy  figure  upon  the 
sofa,  and  as  soon  as  the  sun's  rays  passed  through  this 
unintended  burning-glass  and  were  focussed  upon 
the  gun,  an  explosion  occurred  and  the  contents  were 
discharged  into  the  figure. 

The  writer  has  been  unable  to  trace  the  date  of  this 
occurrence,  but  even  if  it  is  not  founded  upon  fact 
it  is  not  impossible,  for  there  are  undoubtedly  cases 
where  papers  have  been  set  on  fire  by  the  rays  of  the 
sun  being  concentrated  upon  them,  through  a  bottle 
of  water. 

An  instance  of  the  way  in  which  one  small  fact 
may  give  conclusive  proof  that  a  crime  has  been  com- 
mitted is  afforded  by  the  trial  of  Swan  and  Jefferies 
in  the  early  part  of  last  century. 

The  prisoners,  who  were  indoor  servants,  had  com- 
mitted a  murder  and  then  raised  an  alarm  with  the 
object  of  throwing  the  suspicion  upon  burglars,  who 
they  alleged  had  broken  into  the  house.  But  an 
examination  of  the  grass  outside  the  house  showed 
that  although  dew  had  fallen  heavily  through  the  night 
there  were  no  indications  of  its  having  been  disturbed 
by  footsteps.  This  piece  of  circumstantial  evidence 
led  to  their  arrest,  and  they  were  subsequently 
convicted  and  executed. 

Equally  convincing  were  the  clues  that  led  to  the 
arrest  of  Courvoisier  in  1840,  for  the  murder  of  Lord 


INTRODUCTION  5 

William  Russell,  who  was  then  seventy-five  years  of 
age. 

The  prisoner  had  only  been  in  the  service  of  the 
murdered  man  for  a  short  time.  He  stated  that  on 
the  night  before  the  murder  he  had  left  his  master 
reading  in  bed,  as  was  his  frequent  custom,  and  a 
fact  in  support  of  this  was  that  the  candle  had 
burned  down  to  the  socket. 

Early  in  the  morning  the  housemaid  found  the 
silver  plate  scattered  about  the  room,  and  various 
articles  of  value  tied  up  in  bundles,  as  though  burglars 
had  broken  into  the  house  and  had  been  interrupted 
in  their  work. 

She  called  Courvoisier,  and  he  appeared  almost 
immediately,  fully  dressed,  and  going  into  the  room 
of  Lord  William  Russell  found  him  with  his  throat 
cut. 

On  a  door  were  marks  which  indicated  that  it  had 
been  broken  in  by  the  supposed  burglars,  but  closer 
examination  showed  that  the  damage  had  been  done 
from  the  inside.  In  addition  to  this,  any  burglars 
entering  the  house  through  this  door  must  have  passed 
over  a  wall,  and  this  was  found  to  be  thickly  coated 
with  dust  which  had  not  been  disturbed. 

For  a  long  time  no  trace  of  the  missing  valuables 
were  discovered,  but  finally  after  a  thorough  search 
of  the  premises,  some  of  the  money  was  found  hidden 
behind  the  skirting  in  the  pantry  of  the  accused, 
while  later  on  the  stolen  plate  was  discovered  in  the 
keeping  of  a  man  with  whom  Courvoisier  had  formerly 
lived. 

Mainly  on  the  circumstantial  evidence  of  these  facts 


6  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

the  prisoner  was  convicted ;  afterwards  he  made  a 
full  confession  of  the  crime. 

Clever  deductive  reasoning  was  also  shown  in  the 
following  case,  in  which  the  author  of  a  shooting  outrage 
that  occurred  in  1831  at  Ayr  was  discovered  in  a 
singular  manner.  Someone  had  maliciously  fired  a 
gun  into  a  church,  and  had  hoped  to  escape  detection. 
It  was  noticed,  however,  that  some  of  the  bullets, 
after  having  passed  through  the  windows,  had  left 
a  mark  upon  the  wall  opposite.  By  drawing  a  straight 
line  between  these  marks  and  the  holes  in  the  windows, 
and  extending  the  line  outside  the  church,  the  other 
end  was  found  in  a  window  on  the  other  side  of  the 
street.  Subsequently  other  proof  was  obtained  that 
the  gun  had  been  fired  from  this  window. 

Numerous  cases  might  also  be  quoted  where  the 
trained  observation  of  a  doctor  has  called  attention 
to  some  slight  point  which  would  otherwise  have  been 
overlooked,  but  which  has  furnished  the  clue  to  the 
detection  of  a  crime. 

In  the  year  1806  a  man  named  Blight  was  shot  with 
a  pistol  at  Deptford  by  someone  unknown,  and  died 
from  the  wound.  Sir  Astley  Cooper,  who  was  called 
in  to  attend  to  the  victim,  carefully  noted  the  relation- 
ship of  the  body  to  other  objects  in  the  room,  and  from 
the  position  of  the  wound  concluded  that  the  shot 
had  been  fired  by  a  left-handed  person.  This  inference 
drew  suspicion  upon  a  gentleman  named  Patch  who 
was  the  only  left-handed  person  who  had  been  seen 
with  Mr.  Blight.  He  was  a  close  personal  friend  of 
the  latter,  and  no  one  had  dreamed  of  suspecting 
him  of  the  crime.      The  results  of  further  inquiries 


INTRODUCTION  7 

proved  that  this  man  had  fired  the  shot,  and  after  his 
conviction  he  confessed  that  he  had  been  guilty 
of  the  murder. 

The  fact  that  a  weapon  is  tightly  held  in  the  hand 
of  a  person  who  has  been  shot  is  strong  presumptive 
evidence  that  it  is  a  case  of  suicide,  since  it  is  improb- 
able that  the  hand  of  a  dead  man  could  subsequently 
be  made  to  grasp  a  pistol. 

There  is  a  remarkable  case  on  record,  however, 
in  which  the  fact  that  a  pistol  was  found  clenched 
in  the  hand  of  a  dead  man  was  at  first  regarded  as 
evidence  of  a  murder.  A  son  of  the  deceased,  who 
had  slept  in  the  same  room  was  accused  of  having  killed 
him  and  of  then  placing  the  discharged  pistol  in  his 
hand  to  give  the  suggestion  of  suicide.  Experiments 
were  made  in  which  the  hand  holding  the  pistol  was 
lifted  into  the  position  in  which  it  must  have  been 
held  if  it  had  been  a  case  of  suicide,  and  in  each  instance 
the  hand,  when  allowed  to  fall,  did  not  retain  the 
pistol.  For  the  defence  medical  evidence  was  given 
that  the  spasmodic  contraction  of  the  muscles  after 
death  would  account  for  the  pistol  being  still  clenched 
in  the  hand,  while  the  inability  of  the  hand  to  grasp 
it  afterwards  did  not  prove  anything.  Evidence  as 
to  the  presence  of  a  motive  was  given,  but  the  scientific 
evidence  was  regarded  as  decisive  and  the  prisoner 
was  discharged. 

The  question  whether  a  person  who  has  apparently 
committed  suicide  could  possibly  have  made  use  of 
the  degree  of  force  to  which  circumstances  pointed 
has  frequently  arisen. 

The   most   notable  instance   of   the    kind  was    in 


8  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

reference  to  the  Earl  of  Essex  who  was  found  dead  in  the 
Tower  in  July,  1683,  his  throat  having  been  cut.  A  razor 
was  lying  by  his  side  with  its  blade  notched,  and  public 
opinion  was  strongly  divided  as  to  whether  he  had 
committed  suicide  or  had  been  murdered.  The  medical 
men  who  supported  the  former  view  explained  the 
notches  upon  the  razor  blade  as  the  result  of  its  having 
been  drawn  backwards  and  forwards  across  the  neck 
bone,  although  for  a  suicide  to  have  done  this  would 
have  been  an  impossibility. 

Occasions  have  arisen  where  a  chemical  expert 
has  been  asked  to  state  whether  a  gun  or  pistol  found 
lying  near  a  body  has  or  has  not  been  recently 
discharged. 

Even  in  the  case  of  firearms  that  had  been  loaded 
with  black  powder  no  very  definite  answer  can  usually 
be  given  to  this  question.  Taylor  suggested  that  the 
presence  of  potassium  sulphide  (formed  from  the 
powder)  adhering  to  the  barrel  would  indicate  that 
the  gun  had  recently  been  fired,  whereas  after  a  short 
time  this  sulphide  would  become  oxidised,  and  no 
longer  give  the  reactions  of  a  sulphide.  After  a  longer 
time  traces  of  iron  oxide  formed  from  the  iron  of  the 
barrel  might  be  expected. 

It  would  not  be  safe  to  lay  stress  upon  conclusions 
based  upon  such  data  as  these,  and  at  best  they  could 
only  afford  corroborative  evidence. 

An  amusing  instance  within  the  present  writer's 
experience  affords  another  example  of  the  way  in 
which  a  trifling  point  being  overlooked  may  be  strong 
presumptive  evidence  of  attempted  fraud.  A  family 
of  the  name  of,  say,  Abendessig,  effected  an  insurance 


INTRODUCTION  9 

against  burglary  with  a  company  which  may  be 
described  as  the  Safeguard  Assurance  Co. 

It  was  not  long  before  they  were  the  unhappy 
victims  of  a  burglary  in  which  Miss  Abendessig  lost 
several  valuable  pieces  of  jewellery  including  a  watch, 
a  diamond  ring,  and  several  brooches. 

In  proof  of  her  claim  she  produced  receipts  from  the 
jeweller  from  whom  she  stated  she  had  bought  these 
articles,  the  total  value  of  which  was  given  at 
£150. 

There  were  three  receipts  in  all,  dated  at  intervals 
of  two  or  three  months,  the  first  being  made  out  to 
Miss  Abendessig  and  the  last  to  Mrs.  Lab,  she  having 
been  married  in  the  interval,  and  the  second  to  her 
father,  Simeon  Abendessig.     . 

The  Safeguard  Assurance  Co.  had  a  suspicion  that 
the  jeweller,  who  had  an  address  but  no  shop,  was  in 
league  with  the  Abendessigs,  and  that  the  first  and 
third  receipts  had  been  written  at  the  same  time. 

The  present  writer  was  therefore  asked  to  examine 
these  documents  to  see  whether  any  evidence  of  the 
date  of  writing  could  be  obtained. 

They  were  both  written  in  blue  ink  upon  common 
billheads,  but  the  fact  that  the  ink  and  paper  were 
of  the  same  kind  was  no  proof  that  they  were  not 
genuine   receipts. 

When,  however,  the  receipt  stamps  were  examined 
under  the  microscope  it  was  obvious  that  the  right- 
hand  side  of  one  stamp  corresponded  with  the  left- 
hand  side  of  the  other  stamp.  That  is  to  say,  the  little 
projections  of  paper  left  when  two  stamps  are  torn 
apart  across  the  perforation  exactly  coincided  in  every 


10  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

instance,  a  long  projection  on  one  being  matched  by 
a  short  projection  on  the  other,  and  so  on. 

The  exact  coincidence  of  seventeen  points  could 
not  have  been  the  result  of  chance,  and  the  stamps 
on  the  two  receipts  must  therefore  originally  have 
been  attached  to  one  another  in  the  sheet. 

The  further  inference  was  that  the  jeweller  must 
either  have  torn  them  apart  and  put  one  on  the  earlier 
receipt  and  the  other  on  the  later  one  at  the  same  time, 
or  he  must  have  had  the  second  stamp  put  aside  for 
three  months  and  then  affixed  it  to  the  later  receipt. 

A  much  more  obvious  slip  than  this  was  made  some 
years  ago  in  a  bogus  claim  upon  a  fire  insurance  com- 
pany, the  story  of  which  is  related  in  Lord  Brampton's 
"  Reminiscences."  The  fire  broke  out  on  the  premises 
of  a  firm  of  tailors,  and  it  was  claimed  by  them  that 
the  whole  of  their  stock,  including  many  hundred 
pairs  of  trousers,  had  been  destroyed. 

The  insurance  company,  after  examining  the  burnt- 
out  building,  instructed  a  number  of  their  agents  to 
sift  carefully  the  whole  of  the  ashes. 

At  the  hearing  of  the  case  the  counsel  for  the  com- 
pany remarked  that  it  was  strange  that  in  a  fire  in 
which  so  many  pairs  of  trousers  had  been  burned  the 
metal  buttons  upon  them  should  not  have  been  found. 

On  the  next  day  the  tailors  appeared  with  a  whole 
bucketful  of  buttons,  but  their  production  was  too 
late  to  be  convincing,  for  the  ashes  had  been  thor- 
oughly sifted  before  the  claimants  attempted  to  make 
good  their  oversight,  and  only  a  very  few  trouser 
buttons  had  been  discovered. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  danger  of  jumping  to  a 


INTRODUCTION  11 

sudden  conclusion  from  circumstances  has  been  fre- 
quently demonstrated.  Thus,  a  very  extraordinary  case 
in  which  some  facts  that  clearly  pointed  to  the  guilt 
of  a  prisoner  were  found  to  have  misled  many  wit- 
nesses, was  tried  in  1813  at  the  assizes  at  Bury  St. 
Edmunds.  A  farmer  who  owned  upwards  of  1,200 
acres  was  accused  of  burglary,  and  as  evidence  against 
him  it  was  positively  stated  that  certain  articles  in 
his  possession  had  been  stolen  from  the  house.  The 
witnesses  swore  that  they  had  identified  some  sheets 
by  stains  upon  them  and  a  cask  by  the  fact  of  its 
being  marked  with  the  letters  P.C.  84  in  a  circle. 
For  the  defence,  witnesses  stated  that  the  prisoner 
was  in  possession  of  sheets  stained  in  exactly  the  same 
way,  and  that  the  cask  was  one  of  those  in  which  he 
had  received  cranberries  from  Norwich,  all  of  which 
casks  were  marked  in  the  same  manner.  The  prisoner 
was  acquitted. 

Scientific  testimony  is  another  form  of  the  so-called 
"  circumstantial  evidence,"  and  as  such  is  sometimes 
looked  upon  with  suspicion.  Yet  in  how  few  cases 
is  it  possible  to  produce  the  man  who  can  say,  "  I 
saw  the  deed  done,"  and  even  in  such  cases,  what 
errors  of  identification  may  occur !  In  far  the  greater 
number  of  crimes  the  proof  must  depend  to  a  large 
extent  upon  the  evidence  of  circumstances.  But  these 
must  be  so  convincing  that  it  is  impossible  in  reason 
to  draw  any  other  conclusion  from  them.  In  this 
country  it  is  the  duty  of  the  prosecution  to  prove  the 
guilt,  and  unless  that  is  done  in  such  a  way  as  to  leave 
no  shadow  of  doubt  in  the  minds  of  the  jury,  a 
prisoner  is  entitled  to  be  acquitted. 


12  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

There  must  be  no  speculation  upon  a  man's  guilt. 
A  man  is  regarded  as  innocent  so  long  as  it  is  impos- 
sible to  connect  to  him  the  last  link  in  a  long  chain 
of  circumstantial  evidence. 

In  the  brief  accounts  of  various  celebrated  trials 
in  the  following  pages  an  attempt  has  been  made 
to  give  an  outline  of  the  scientific  circumstantial 
evidence  that  has  led  to  the  conviction  or  acquittal 
of  the  prisoners.  In  some  of  these  trials  proof  of  guilt 
has  been  overwhelming,  although  the  testimony  of  an 
eye-witness  has  been  lacking,  but  in  others  the  Scotch 
verdict  of  "  Not  proven  "  (a  curious  equivalent  of 
which,  however,  was  once  given  in  the  trial  of  Mrs. 
Rudd)  would  be  a  more  fitting  deduction  from  the 
evidence,  than  the  alternative  of  "  Guilty  "  or  "  Not 
guilty,"  which  is  all  that  is  allowed  by  the  English 
law. 

A  good  illustration  of  the  value  of  scientific  proof 
was  seen,  in  1884,  at  the  trial  of  a  woman  named 
Gibbons  on  the  charge  of  having  shot  her  husband. 

For  the  defence  it  was  urged  that  the  man  had 
committed  suicide.  There  were  four  bullet  wounds 
from  a  revolver  in  the  body,  and  the  medical  evidence 
went  to  prove  that  although  any  one  of  the  wounds 
might  have  been  inflicted  by  the  man  himself,  it  was 
extremely  improbable  that  all  of  them  had  been. 
Moreover,  some  of  them  were  in  such  a  position  that 
they  could  only  have  been  self-inflicted  if  the  revolver 
had  been  held  in  the  left  hand,  whereas  witnesses 
testified  that  the  deceased  was  not  left-handed.  The 
prisoner  was  found  guilty. 

Attempts  have  frequently  been  made  by  defending 


INTRODUCTION  13 

counsel  to  obtain  permission  for  a  scientific  man  to 
be  present  on  behalf  of  a  prisoner  at  any  examination 
made  before  a  trial,  but  all  such  requests  are  invariably 
refused. 

It  is  quite  a  common  occurrence,  however,  for  the 
evidence  given  by  scientific  witnesses  for  the  prosecu- 
tion to  be  controverted  by  scientific  witnesses  for  the 
defence,  and  the  most  recent  instance  of  the  kind 
at  the  trial  of  Crippen  will  be  fresh  in  the  memory 
of  everyone.  Where  there  is  any  possibility  of  doubt 
it  should  be  possible  for  every  prisoner  to  obtain 
scientific  assistance. 

An  accused  person  who  lacks  the  means  to  procure 
legal  assistance  in  his  defence  has  assigned  to  him 
by  the  Court  a  barrister  who  will  represent  his  interests 
and  see  that  they  do  not  suffer  from  ignorance  of  legal 
technicalities. 

This  principle  might  well  be  extended  so  as  to  cover 
the  ground  of  scientific  evidence.  Under  the  present 
conditions  the  prosecution  has  unlimited  facilities  for 
applying  every  description  of  test,  but  it  has  not 
always  been  easy  for  the  representatives  of  the  accused 
person  to  obtain  scientific  help  in  criticising  the  nature 
of  this  evidence. 

Scientific  evidence  should  be,  and  usually  is,  quite 
impartial,  but  the  everyday  conflict  of  honest  opinion 
in  civil  actions  illustrates  the  possibility  of  mistakes 
occurring  or  of  certain  points  that  would  tell  in  favour 
of  the  accused  being  overlooked. 

For  instance,  suppose  a  stain  on  the  clothes  of  a 
person  accused  of  murder  were  examined  by  a  chemist 
for  the  prosecution  and  found  to  consist  of  blood. 


14  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

The  fact  would  tell  against  the  accused,  even  though 
the  witness  (as  in  a  recent  case)  could  express  no 
opinion  whether  it  was  human  blood,  or  the  blood  of 
an  animal.  Assuming  in  this  hypothetical  trial  that 
the  blood  stain  was  really  due  to  rabbit's  blood,  another 
chemist  representing  the  prisoner  might  be  acquainted 
with  the  comparatively  recent  physiological  methods 
of  distinguishing  between  the  blood  of  different 
animals,  and  thus  be  able  to  prove  the  real  nature  of 
the  blood  stain  and  break  one  of  the  links  in  the 
chain   of  evidence. 

In  most  of  the  important  criminal  trials  the  scien- 
tific evidence  is  given  by  more  than  one  witness,  and 
the  possibility  of  mistake  is  thus  greatly  reduced, 
but  this  is  not  invariably  the  rule. 

Scientific  criticism  derived  from  a  first-hand  exam- 
ination of  the  material  would  be  of  much  more  value 
than  the  criticism  of  the  statement  of  the  results, 
and  might  have  considerable  weight  upon  the 
conclusions  of  the  jury. 

A  defending  counsel  cross-examining  a  scientific 
witness  is  usually  dealing  with  an  unfamiliar  subject, 
and  lacks  the  specialised  knowledge  that  would 
enable  him  to  point  out  the  weak  points  in  the  evidence. 

When  a  wealthy  person  is  on  trial,  however,  the 
counsel  has  the  advantage  of  getting  the  best  expert 
advice  upon  the  scientific  matters  put  forward  in 
evidence,  and  is  thus  able  to  lay  stress  on  all  that  will 
help  his  client,  but  a  poor  prisoner  lacks  this  advantage, 
and  therefore  runs  a  greater  chance  of  being  convicted. 

An  early  trial  in  which  the  prisoner  owed  his 
acquittal  to  a  conflict  of  scientific  evidence  was  that 


INTRODUCTION  15 

of  Spencer  Cowper,  the  grandfather  of  Cowper,  the 
poet,  who  was  tried  at  the  Hertford  Assizes  in  1699 
for  the  murder  of  a  young  gentlewoman  named  Sarah 
Stout. 

With  Cowper  were  also  tried  several  of  his  friends, 
whose  remarks  having  been  overheard  had  suggested 
that  they  were  aware  of  what  had  happened  to  the 
girl. 

Cowper,  who  was  a  barrister,  defended  himself 
and  incidentally  his  companions.  The  story  told  by 
the  prosecution  was  that  at  the  previous  Assizes  the 
prisoner  had  stayed  for  a  night  at  the  house  of  Mrs. 
Stout,  the  mother  of  Sarah  Stout.  The  servant-maid 
stated  that  she  had  been  told  to  prepare  Mr.  Cowper's 
bed,  and  that  when  she  came  downstairs  again,  it 
then  being  about  eleven  o'clock  in  the  evening,  he 
had  gone  out,  presumably  with  Sarah  Stout,  who 
was  never  again  seen  alive.  The  next  day  her  dead 
body  was  found  floating  upon  the  river. 

The  condition  of  the  body  was,  it  was  asserted,  con- 
clusive proof  that  she  had  been  strangled  and  then 
thrown  into  the  water  ;  for,  to  quote  the  words  of 
the  counsel  for  the  prosecution,  "  when  her  body  came 
to  be  viewed  it  was  very  much  wondered  at ;  for  in 
the  first  place  it  is  contrary  to  nature  that  any  persons 
that  drown  themselves  should  float  upon  the  water. 
We  have  sufficient  evidence  that  it  is  a  thing  that 
never  was  ;  if  persons  come  alive  into  the  water,  then 
they  sink  ;  if  dead,  then  they  swim.  At  first  it  was 
thought  that  such  an  accident  might  happen  though 
they  could  not  imagine  any  cause  for  this  woman 
to  do  so,  who  had  so  great  prosperity,  had  so  good  an 


16  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

estate,  and  had  no  occasion  to  do  an  action  upon 
herself  so  wicked  and  so  barbarous.  Upon  view  of  the 
body,  it  did  appear  there  had  been  violence  used  to 
the  woman  ;  there  was  a  crease  round  her  neck,  she 
was  bruised  about  her  ear ;  so  that  it  did  seem  as  if 
she  had  been  strangled  either  by  hands  or  a  rope." 

The  evidence  brought  forward  to  support  the  theory 
that  Sarah  Stout  had  been  killed,  before  being  thrown 
into  the  water,  included  that  of  several  local  doctors 
who  had  examined  the  body,  and  also  that  of  several 
London  doctors  who  were  called  in  as  expert  witnesses. 

These  all  gave  as  their  opinion  that  the  body  of  a 
person  who  had  been  drowned  must  contain  water 
in  the  thorax,  and  that  since  no  water  was  present 
in  the  body,  death  must  have  been  caused  in  some  other 
way.  Two  seamen  of  the  Royal  Navy  were  also  put 
into  the  box,  and  both  were  emphatic  in  their  opinion 
that  the  body  of  a  person  who  had  been  drowned 
would  sink,  while  a  dead  body  thrown  into  the  water 
would  float. 

Spencer  Cowper,  who,  as  has  been  stated,  conducted 
his  own  defence,  cross-examined  the  medical  witnesses 
and  made  them  admit  that  they  had  no  knowledge 
of  the  way  in  which  the  body  of  a  person  who  had 
drowned  himself  would  behave. 

He  entered  a  strong  protest  against  the  body  having 
been  examined  after  the  coroner's  inquest  (at  which 
a  verdict  of  suicide  while  of  unsound  mind  had  been 
found)  by  medical  men  acting  in  the  interests  of  the 
relations  of  the  dead  woman,  with  the  intention  of 
becoming  prosecutors.  "If,"  said  he,  "they  intended 
to  have  prosecuted  me  or  any  other  gentleman  upon 


INTRODUCTION  17 

this  evidence,  they  ought  to  have  given  us  notice, 
that  we  might  have  had  some  surgeons  among  them 
to  superintend  their  proceeding.  My  Lord,  with  sub- 
mission, this  ought  not  to  be  given  in  evidence."  The 
judge  overruled  this  objection,  saying  that  supposing 
an  ill  thing  had  been  done  in  taking  up  the  body 
without  some  order,  that  was  no  reason  why  the 
evidence  should  not  be  heard. 

In  further  cross-examination  Mr.  Cowper  succeeded 
in  throwing  doubt  upon  the  statements  of  witnesses, 
who  alleged  that  they  had  seen  marks  of  strangling, 
and  produced  witnesses  to  prove  that  any  marks  upon 
the  body  had  been  the  result  of  contact  with  stakes 
in  the  bed  of  the  river.  Then  he  brought  forward 
his  own  expert  medical  evidence,  which  was  given  by 
ten  of  the  leading  doctors  of  the  day,  including  Sir  Hans 
Sloane  and  the  celebrated  surgeon  William  Cowper. 
These  held  a  different  view  from  that  of  the  doctors 
called  for  the  prosecution,  and  gave  their  reasons  for 
concluding  that  the  appearance  of  the  body  was  quite 
consistent  with  death  by  drowning. 

Some  described  experiments  they  had  made  upon 
animals,  which  proved  that  when  killed  and  thrown 
into  the  water  the  body  sank  at  first  and  then  rose 
to  the  surface,  and  also  that  drowning  could  take  place 
without  much  water  being  swallowed. 

As  proof  of  the  dead  woman  having  been  of  a 
melancholy  disposition  and  not  of  sound  mind,  letters 
of  hers  were  read  to  the  jury,  but  these  her  mother  and 
brother  would  not  admit  were  in  her  handwriting, 
since,  they  asserted,  it  did  not  suit  her  character. 
(See  p.  85.) 

2— <2I2I) 


18  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

The  judge,  Sir  Henry  Hatsell,  in  summing  up 
confessed  that  he  was  very  much  puzzled,  and  that  he 
perceived  that  "  doctors  do  differ  in  their  notions 
about  these  things." 

The  conclusion  of  his  remarks  is  worthy  of  quotation : 
"  I  am  sensible  I  have  omitted  many  things  ;  but  I 
am  a  little  faint,  and  cannot  remember  any  more  of 
the  evidence." 

It  is  not  surprising  that,  soon  after  Queen  Anne 
came  to  the  throne,  he  was  removed  from  the  bench. 

The  jury  believed  the  medical  witnesses  for  the 
defence,  and  after  a  short  discussion  found  Spencer 
Cowper  and  the  other  prisoners  "  Not  guilty." 

To  come  to  more  modern  times,  the  advantage 
of  a  conflict  of  scientific  opinion  to  the  accused  was 
seen  in  the  celebrated  Maybrick  poisoning  case.  At  the 
trial  evidence  was  given  by  Professor  Tidy  to  the  effect 
that  the  symptoms  and  appearances  were  not  those 
of  arsenical  poisoning  and  that  the  amounts  of  arsenic 
found  in  the  body  were  not  greater  than  those  present 
in  cases  where  arsenical  medicines  had  been  taken 
months  before  death,  and  where  there  was  no  sus- 
picion of  poisoning.  Although  the  prisoner  was 
convicted  and  sentenced  to  death,  there  can  be  little 
doubt  but  that  this  evidence  had  an  important  influ- 
ence in  determining  the  subsequent  alteration  of  the 
sentence  to  penal  servitude. 

There  is  no  necessity  for  such  scientific  assistance 
given  to  the  defence  to  degenerate  into  partisanship, 
such  as  was  shown  at  the  trial  of  Palmer  for  poisoning 
in  1856.  That  case  was  characterised  by  many  re- 
markable features,  the  suspected  person,  for  instance, 


INTRODUCTION  19 

being  allowed  access  to  the  bottle  in  which  had  been 
placed  the  material  taken  from  the  body  for  analysis, 
and  also  being  given  the  opportunity  of  attempting 
to  destroy  it. 

Prior  to  the  trial,  Taylor,  the  chemist  who  was  to 
give  evidence  as  to  the  presence  of  poison  in  the  body, 
communicated  with  the  papers,  while  Herapath,  one 
of  the  witnesses  called  for  the  defence,  publicly  accused 
Taylor  of  incompetence. 

So  acrid  were  the  statements  of  the  scientific  wit- 
nesses for  the  defence  at  the  trial  that  the  judge 
commented  in  vigorous  terms  upon  their  evidence 
as  having  been  given  with  the  object  of  obtaining  an 
acquittal  at  all  costs.  "  It  is  indispensable,"  he  said, 
"  to  the  administration  of  justice  that  a  witness 
should  not  be  turned  into  an  advocate,  nor  an  advocate 
into  a  witness." 

In  another  poisoning  trial  which  took  place  three 
years  later,  the  chemical  evidence  brought  forward 
by  the  defence  resulted  in  the  prisoner  being  set 
free,  after  having  been  sentenced  to  death.  In  this 
case  a  doctor  named  Smethurst  was  accused  of 
poisoning  a  young  woman  named  Isabella  Banks. 

Dr.  Taylor,  who  was  the  chief  chemical  witness 
called  for  the  prosecution,  had  found  arsenic  in 
material  from  the  body,  although  he  could  not  detect 
any  remaining  in  the  tissues.  On  the  other  hand,  Dr. 
B.  W.  Richardson,  who  was  called  as  a  witness  for  the 
defence,  stated  that  arsenic  was  a  cumulative  poison, 
and  that  if  it  had  been  given  for  a  long  period,  as 
alleged,  traces  must  inevitably  have  been  present. 
Hence  in  his  opinion  the  absence  of  arsenic  in    the 


20  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

tissues  was  conclusive  proof  that  death  was  not  the 
result  of  slow  arsenical  poisoning. 

The  medical  evidence  called  by  the  defence,  also 
left  room  for  some  doubt  as  to  whether  death  might 
not  have  been  the  result  of  dysentery,  the  symptoms 
and  appearance,  it  was  alleged,  being  as  consistent 
with  that  cause  as  with  arsenical  poisoning. 

The  scientific  witnesses  for  the  defence  did  not 
succeed  in  convincing  the  jury,  but  after  sentence  of 
death  had  been  passed  the  judge  forwarded  the  papers 
to  the  Home  Secretary,  and  advised  that  the  opinion 
of  an  independent  scientific  authority  should  be  taken. 
Accordingly  the  whole  of  the  chemical  and  medical 
evidence  was  studied  by  Sir  B.  Brodie,  whose  report 
was  that  there  were  six  reasons  which  led  to  the 
conclusion  that  Smethurst  was  guilty,  and  eight 
reasons  which  pointed  in  the  opposite  direction ; 
and  that,  therefore,  the  impression  left  upon  his  mind, 
was  that  the  proof  of  Smethurst's  guilt  was  not 
absolutely  convincing. 

The  Home  Secretary,  on  receiving  this  statement 
of  opinion  from  his  scientific  referee,  immediately 
granted  a  free  pardon.  In  this  case,  but  for  the 
conflict  of  scientific  opinion  upon  the  medical  and 
chemical  evidence  the  prisoner  would  have  been 
hanged. 

Instances  such  as  these  might  be  largely  multiplied, 
but  the  above  are  sufficient  to  show  that  a  scientific 
defence  may  succeed  in  breaking  down  the  scientific 
evidence  brought  by  the  prosecution  in  criminal 
cases  ;  or,  failing  that,  may  (as  in  the  Maybrick  case) 
help  to  bring  about  a  commutation  of  the  sentence. 


INTRODUCTION  21 

There  is  thus  abundant  justification  for  the  plea 
that  the  poor  prisoner  should  have  the  same  advan- 
tages as  regards  scientific  assistance  as  he  now 
possesses  in  legal  matters,  and  thus  be  placed  on  an 
equality  with  a  wealthy  prisoner. 

It  ought  not  to  be  a  difficult  matter  to  draw  up  a 
list  of  men  of  recognised  standing  in  chemistry  and 
medicine,  who  would  be  willing  to  serve  in  this  capacity 
when  selected  by  the  judge  in  a  trial. 


CHAPTER  II 

DETECTION   AND   CAPTURE   OF  THE   CRIMINAL 

Contrasts  between  Eighteenth,  Nineteenth  and  Twentieth 
Centuries —  Margaret  Catchpole — Tawell — Crippen — Por- 
traits and  the  Press — Charlesworth  Case — Bloodhounds — 
Police  Dogs — Circumstantial  Detection. 

In  the  days  of  the  stage-coach  a  fugitive  had  a  better 
chance  of  escaping  than  in  the  present  age  of  steam 
power  on  land  and  sea.  For  then,  slow  as  were 
the  ways  of  escape,  the  ways  of  advertising  the  crime 
were  slower  still,  and  once  on  board  a  ship  a  runaway 
was  comparatively  safe  from  arrest.  v 

The  story  of  Margaret  Catchpole,  which  has  now 
become  almost  classic,  may  be  cited  as  a  good  illus- 
tration of  the  way  in  which  the  pursuers  were 
handicapped,  when  the  fugitive  had  had  a  few  hours' 
start. 

It  was  in  1797  that  Margaret  Catchpole,  a  servant- 
maid  at  Ipswich,  stole  a  horse  from  the  stable  of  her 
master,  in  order  to  join  her  lover,  and  disguised  as 
a  lad  rode  all  the  way  to  London  in  eight  and  a  half 
hours,  with  only  a  single  stop  at  Marks  Tey,  in  Essex. 

A  few  hours  later  the  horse  was  missed,  and  handbills 
describing  it  and  offering  a  reward  for  the  capture 
of  the  thief  were  hurriedly  printed  and  sent  out  of 
Ipswich  by  every  vehicle  that  left  the  town. 

Two  men  were  also  despatched  in  pursuit  along  the 
London  road,  but  being  falsely  directed  were  about 
to  turn  off  in  the  direction  of  Maldon,  when   they 

22 


DETECTION  AND  CAPTURE  23 

chanced  to  meet  a  man  who  had  seen  Margaret  riding 
to  London.  But  for  this  chance  meeting  Margaret 
would  probably  have  escaped  capture. 

As  it  was,  the  pursuers  reached  London  the  following 
day  and  Margaret  was  arrested  just  as  she  had 
concluded  a  sale  of  the  horse  with  a  dealer. 

She  was  tried  at  the  Bury  Assizes  and  sentenced 
to  death,  but  through  the  influence  of  her  former  master 
the  sentence  was  commuted  to  a  term  of  imprisonment. 

Three  years  later  her  lover,  Laud,  who  was  a  smug- 
gler, assisted  her  to  escape  from  Ipswich  gaol,  and 
again  handbills  for  her  arrest  were  issued.  She  was 
captured  on  the  beach  while  in  the  act  of  embarking 
in  Laud's  boat,  and  Laud  himself  was  killed  in  the 
fight.  For  the  second  time  she  was  sentenced  to  death, 
and  was  once  more  reprieved,  her  sentence  now  being 
transportation  to  Botany  Bay.  There  she  married, 
and  died  many  years  later. 

-  The  introduction  of  the  railway  did  not  materially 
change  the  relative  position  of  pursuer  and  pursued ; 
for  although  the  fugitive  could  travel  more  rapidly 
than  before,  and  thus  when  chance  favoured  him 
could  get  to  the  coast  and  on  board  a  ship  about  to 
sail,  he  had  against  him  the  more  speedy  notification 
of  the  crime  in  all  directions,  which  was  also  rendered 
possible  by  the  railway. 

It  was  not  until  a  means  of  communication  infinitely 
more  rapid  than  the  steam  engine  had  been  discovered, 
that  the  balance  turned  decisively  against  the  man 
endeavouring  to  elude  the  grasp  of  the  law. 

It  is  strange  to  reflect  that  it  was  not  until  it  had  been 
employed  in  the  capture  of  a  criminal  that  it  was 


24  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

recognised  in  how  many  directions  the  electric  telegraph 
might  be  of  service  to. mankind. 

Prior  to  that  time  the  invention  had  been  little 
better  than  a  failure  from  a  commercial  point  of  view , 
for,  although  the  railway  companies  had  some  time 
before  this  realised  the  advantages  of  the  new  system 
of  communication,  the  Government  had  refused  to 
have  anything  to  say  to  it. 

It  was  thus  little  short  of  a  revelation  to  the  public 
when,  in  1845,  the  news  was  made  known  that  a  sus- 
pected murderer  had  been  arrested  through  the 
agency  of  the  telegraph.  * 

A  woman  had  been  brutally  murdered  not  far  from 
Slough,  and  a  neighbour,  who  had  heard  her  screams, 
rushed  to  the  spot  with  a  lighted  candle  in  her  hand 
just  in  time  to  see  a  man  in  Quaker  garb  hurrying 
away. 

This  man,  John  Tawell  by  name,  a  former  member 
of  the  Society  of  Friends,  succeeded  in  escaping  un- 
challenged to  the  station  and  in  catching  a  train  to 
London,  and  had  it  been  two  years  earlier  would 
probably  have  managed  to  get  out  of  England ;  for 
news  still  travelled  slowly  in  those  times,  and  the 
train  service  to  London  was  very  infrequent. 

But  the  police  bethought  them  of  the  telegraph, 
which  had  not  long  been  established  on  the  Great 
Western  Railway,  and  a  description  of  the  wanted 
man  was  sent  over  the  wires  to  London.  Although 
Tawell  had  had  a  good  start,  the  message  arrived 
long  before  him,  and  detectives  were  awaiting  the 
arrival  of  the  train  at  Paddington.  He  was  followed 
from  the  station  to  the  Bank,  and  from  there  to  an 


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DETECTION  AND  CAPTURE  25 

eating-house,  where  he  had  a  meal,  and  finally  to  a 
lodging-house  in  Cannon  Street,  where  he  meant  to 
pass  the  night.  Here,  much  to  his  amazement,  he 
was  quietly  arrested.  His  trial  followed  in  due  course, 
and  he  was  convicted  and  executed. 

There  were  several  points  of  scientific  interest  in 
his  trial,  which  are  described  on  another  page. 

Last  year,  sixty-five  years  after  the  sensational 
capture  of  Tawell,  the  attention  of  the  whole  world 
was  rivetted  upon  an  Atlantic  steamer  on  its  way 
from  Antwerp   to   Canada. 

It  had  on  board  a  man  and  a  woman,  who  disguised 
as  a  Quebec  merchant  and  his  son,  were  expecting  to 
reach  Canada  without  detection.  For  a  week  pre- 
viously search  had  been  made  for  them  in  every 
corner  of  Europe,  and  once  on  board  a  ship  sailing 
from  a  foreign  port  they  might  reasonably  have 
anticipated  that  they  were  safe. 

But  their  portraits  had  been  so  widely  circulated 
by  the  newspapers  that  their  faces  were  familiar 
wherever  English  papers  were  read,  and  the  ship 
was  only  a  few  miles  on  its  journey  when  their 
disguise  was  penetrated  by  the  captain. 

The  vessel  was  fitted  with  a  wireless  installation, 
and  now  for  the  first  time  since  its  invention  wireless 
telegraphy  played  the  leading  part  in  the  capture 
of  fugitives  from  the  land. 

The  police  in  London  were  thus  immediately 
acquainted  with  the  whereabouts  of  the  wanted  pair, 
and  an  officer  was  sent  off  by  a  swifter  steamer  to  greet 
them  on  their  reaching  Canada.  Day  by  day,  with 
almost  feverish  excitement,  the  progress  of  the  Montrose 


26  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

across  the  ocean  was  followed,  and  the  chief  topic 
of  public  interest  was  the  race  between  the  police 
officer  on  one  steamer  and  the  fugitives  upon  the 
other. 

The  inspector  won  easily,  and  was  ready  waiting 
to  arrest  Crippen  and  his  companion  at  the  first 
approach  of  the  Montrose  to  the  Canadian  shore. 

The  trial  that  followed  had  many  features  of  scien- 
tific interest  to  which  reference  is  made  in  another 
place. 

i/The  recent  advances  in  the  methods  of  telegraphing 
a  facsimile  of  a  specimen  of  handwriting  or  a  sketch, 
or  of  reproducing  a  photograph  at  a  distance  have 
greatly  increased  the  difficulties  of  criminals  escaping 
detection,  and  the  telectrograph,  as  it  is  termed,  will 
prove  a  powerful  weapon  in  the  hands  of  the  detective. 

The  selenium  machines  of  Professor  Korn  were 
employed  by  the  Daily  Mirror  in  transmitting  the 
portraits  of  the  chief  actors  in  the  Steinheil  case,  and 
one  of  these  photographs,  which  was  received  in  London 
while  the  Court  was  still  sitting  in  Paris,  is  shown  in 
the  accompanying  picture. 

v  A  still  more  practical  telectrograph  is  that  invented 
by  Mr.  Thorne  Baker,  which  weighs  only  about 
twenty-four  pounds.  This  has  been  simplified  to 
such  an  extent  that  the  photograph  may  be  printed 
upon  a  flexible  plate  with  a  backing  of  lead  foil,  and 
by  attaching  this  to  the  transmitting  cylinder  the 
thousands  of  minute  points  which  go  to  make  up  the 
image  will  be  exactly  reproduced  upon  a  receiving 
cylinder  at  the  other  end  of  a  telephone  wire. 

The  instrument   may   also   be   used  with  wireless 


PHOTO  SENT  BY  TELEGRAPH  FROM  PARIS 

By  kind  permission  of  "  The  Daily  Mirror" 


DETECTION  AND  CAPTURE  27 

installations  for  the  transmission  of  simple  pictures 
or  diagrams,  and  by  its  means  it  would  be  easy  for 
a  ship  at  sea  to  send  or  receive  portraits  of  an  individual 
under  suspicion.  ^ 

The  accompanying  illustrations,  which  are  repro- 
duced here  by  the  permission  of  Mr.  Thorne  Baker 
and  the  Daily  Mirror,  show  a  portrait  of  King  Edward 
VII  and  an  outline  war  map  which  were  thus 
transmitted  by  "  wireless  "  telegraphy. 

Mr.  Thorne  Baker  states  that  the  use  of  his 
instrument  renders  "  tapping "  impossible,  since  by 
merely  making  a  slight  alteration  in  the  speed  of 
running  the  machines,  in  accordance  with  a  signal 
arranged  beforehand,  the  pictures  would  be  so  distorted 
as  to  be  unrecognisable. 

As  an  early  instance  of  the  use  made  by  the  police 
of  a  portrait  in  identifying  a  suspected  individual 
the  case  of  Arden,  who  was  executed  for  murder 
at  the  beginning  of  last  century,  may  be  mentioned. 

Arden  had  given  a  drawing  of  himself  to  a  youth, 
and  this  was  handed  to  the  police  who  were  thus 
able  to  identify  the  accused  in  London  a  month  later. 
{/The  general  use  of  photography  in  the  press  has 
frequently  come  to  the  aid  of  the  police,  and  instances 
of  photographs  of  a  wanted  individual  being  employed 
for  this  purpose  will  occur  to  everyone.  At  any  police 
station  may  now  be  seen  reproductions  of  photo- 
graphs of  missing  individuals,  and  these  being  circu- 
lated all  over  the  world,  reduce  to  a  small  compass 
the  limits  within  which  a  suspect  may  go  without 
detection. 

Reference  may  be  made  to  two  recent  cases  by  way 


28  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

of  illustration.  A  nurse  had  kidnapped  a  child  and 
all  traces  of  her  whereabouts  were  lost  for  some  days. 
Her  portrait  was  published  in  all  the  leading  papers, 
and  being  seen  by  the  proprietor  of  an  hotel  in  the 
Midlands  was  recognised  as  that  of  one  of  his 
guests. 

Acting  on  this  information  a  police  inspector 
suddenly  accosted  the  suspected  woman  and  addressed 
her  in  her  real  name,  and  she,  taken  off  her  guard, 
answered  his  remarks  naturally,  and  was  at  once 
arrested. 

In  January  of  1908,  Miss  Violet  Charlesworth 
succeeded  in  filling  pages  of  every  English  paper  by 
suddenly  vanishing  from  her  creditors,  under  circum- 
stances intended  to  suggest  that  she  had  been  killed. 
She  arranged  a  motor-car  "  accident  "  upon  the  cliffs 
at  Penmaenbach,  and  ostensibly  was  flung  through  the 
glass  screen  of  the  car  into  the  sea. 

As  no  trace  of  the  body  could  be  found  it  was  soon 
suspected  that  there  had  been  no  accident,  and  that 
before  long  the  victim  would  come  to  life  again.  Her 
portraits  were  published  in  hundreds  of  papers,  and 
were  posted  at  police  stations  all  over  the  United 
Kingdom,  and  amateur  detectives  by  the  score 
endeavoured  to  discover  her  whereabouts. 

She  was  recognised  from  the  portraits  in  half  a 
dozen  parts  of  the  country  at  the  same  time,  but  it 
was  not  until  a  fortnight  later  that  she  was  positively 
identified  at  Oban. 

The  anti-climax  of  the  farce  was  reached,  when, 
a  few  days  later,  she  paid  a  visit  to  the  London  office 
of  her  solicitor,  and  was  attended  from  the  station 


\ 


V  *    i  '  •     •  v        . 

v  V 


\ 


--„• 


V 


\. 


PORTRAIT   SENT    BY   WIRELESS    TELEGRAPHY 

By  kind  permission  of   Mr.   Thome-  Baker  and 

"  The  Daily  Mirror  " 


DETECTION  AND  CAPTURE  29 

by  a  string  of  motor-cars  each  containing  the  special 
representative  of  a  London  paper. 

Two  years  later  she  was  found  guilty  of  having 
defrauded  a  poor  landlady  of  a  large  sum  of  money 
at  the  time  when  everyone  had  accepted  her  great 
"expectations"  at  her  own  valuation. 

There  have  been  frequent  failures  in  the  use  of 
bloodhounds  to  detect  a  criminal,  but  this  must  be 
attributed,  in  part  at  all  events,  to  the  circumstance 
that  the  dogs  have  often  not  been  employed  until 
every  other  means  has  failed. 

In  the  Luard  case,  for  instance,  in  1908,  bloodhounds 
were  set  upon  the  track  of  the  supposed  assailant 
of  the  murdered  woman,  but  the  trial  was  not  made 
immediately  after  the  discovery  of  the  crime.  The 
scent  had  become  faint,  and  it  was  therefore  not 
surprising  that  the  dogs,  after  starting  hotly  upon 
the  trail,  soon  lost  it  again. 

The  writer  is  indebted  to  Major  Richardson  for  the 
accompanying  photograph  of  his  trained  bloodhound, 
"  Pathan,"  and  for  his  kind  permission  to  quote  the 
graphic  description  of  actual  man  hunts  from  his 
fascinating  book  upon  the  subject.1 

"  On  one  occasion,  when  searching  for  the  body  of 
a  woman,  I  used  two  collies  and  a  bloodhound.  It 
was  summer,  and  the  police,  after  patrolling  the 
entire  countryside,  had  narrowed  the  search  down 
to  a  mountain  covered  with  a  dense  wood  and  under- 
growth of  rhododendron  bushes.  It  happened  in  mid- 
summer,   and   the   day   was   very   hot.    The   collies 

1  War,  Police,  and  Watch  Dogs,  by  Major  E.  Richardson 
(Blackwood  and  Sons). 


30  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

worked  industriously  for  almost  two  hours,  keeping 
well  ahead,  but  after  that  time  they  began  to  flag, 
and  soon  refused  to  leave  my  heel.  The  bloodhound, 
on  the  contrary,  continued  persistently  to  search 
ahead  of  me  all  through  the  hottest  part  of  the  day, 
until  the  woman's  body  was  found  on  the  top  of  the 
mountain. 

"  As  further  illustrating  the  persistency  of  the  blood- 
hound when  on  the  trail,  I  may  mention  the  case  of  a 
murder  to  which  I  was  called  in  to  assist  the  police  in 
Scotland.  As  I  and  my  hounds  were  in  England  at 
the  time,  it  was  seventeen  hours  after  the  murder  when 
we  reached  the  scene.  Not  only  this,  but  severe 
frost  had  intervened  during  the  night,  rendering  the 
ground  very  unfavourable  for  scenting  purposes. 
The  murder  had  taken  place  in  a  town,  but  evidences 
were  found  that  the  criminal  had  been  at  a  certain 
spot  outside  the  town  on  the  cliffs  where  he  had 
discarded   certain   belongings. 

"  I  took  my  hounds  to  this  spot  and  laid  them  on 
the  trail,  first  giving  them  the  scent  from  the  discarded 
articles.  They  went  clear  away  for  some  distance, 
and  leaving  the  main  road  crossed  some  fields  through 
a  wood  to  a  cottage.  Here  they  seemed  to  be  at 
fault,  and  ran  about  whimpering.  On  inquiry  at 
the  cottage  it  appeared  that  a  man  had  shortly  after 
the  murder  called  there  for  some  water. 

"  Feeling  the  hounds  were  right  so  far  I  cast  them 
round  about  in  hopes  of  their  picking  up  the  trail 
again.  After  working  persistently  for  a  little  time 
one  of  them,  '  Solferino,'  opened  to  a  line  beyond  the 
wood,  and  went  off  at  a  steady  rate  followed  by  the 


1    J     ■>     ■> 


DETECTION  AND  CAPTURE  31 

other  hound,  'Waterloo,'  who  also  found  the  line 
himself.  They  held  to  this  for  a  while  until  checked 
by  a  main  road. 

"  The  murderer  had  evidently  walked  along  the 
road  some  distance,  until,  perhaps,  scared  by  a 
pedestrian  or  vehicle,  and  he  then  evidently  took  to 
the  fields  again. 

"  Although  checked  by  the  road,  where  the  trail 
became  obliterated,  the  hounds,  nothing  daunted, 
kept  steadily  onwards,  casting  all  the  time  on  each 
side,  until  they  found  it  again  in  the  fields.  By  steadily 
working  in  this  manner  they  led  us  for  four  miles, 
partly  across  country,  and  partly  on  the  road,  to  a 
populous  town,  and  to  the  vicinity  of  a  railway  station. 
Here  the  trail  was  completely  obliterated,  and  it  was 
evident  that  by  this  time  the  murderer  had  got  clear 
away,  probably  by  train,  and  was  not  hiding  in  the 
neighbourhood. 

M  The  chief  constable  testified  to  the  excellent  work 
of  the  hounds  on  this  occasion,  and  there  is  not  the 
slightest  doubt,  that  had  this  town  been  supplied  with 
a  bloodhound  which  could  have  been  put  on  the  trail 
immediately  on  the  discovery  of  the  murder,  the 
murderer  would  have  been  quite  easily  run  to  earth/' 

In  Moscow  a  bloodhound  is  systematically  used  by 
the  police  to  discover  stolen  property,  and  some  of 
his  "  finds  "  have  been  recorded  in  all  the  European 
papers.  In  the  early  part  of  March  of  last  year  this 
police  dog,  "  Tref,"  recovered  a  number  of  bank-notes 
and  a  quantity  of  silver  plate  that  had  been  taken 
from  the  house  of  a  Moscow  gentleman. 

"  Tref,"  having  been  put  upon  the  scent,  followed  the 


32  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

trail  through  several  streets  until  he  came  to  a  night- 
shelter.  Here  he  made  for  a  coat  that  belonged  to 
a  house-painter,  and  in  the  pockets  of  this  were  found 
the  missing  notes.  He  then  left  the  shelter  and 
followed  the  trail  to  the  shop  of  a  dealer  in  old  silver, 
and  here  the  stolen  plate  was  discovered. 

In  addition  to  their  occasional  use  as  detectives, 
dogs  are  now  being  systematically  employed  as  scouts 
to  accompany  the  police  on  their  rounds  and  to  aid 
in  the  capture  of  evil-doers. 

The  Paris  dogs,  which  are  specially  trained  for  the 
police  by  Mademoiselle  Arlette  Clary,  are  cross-bred 
hounds  described  as  "  wolf-shepherd  hounds,"  and 
"  brindled  mastiff  bulls."  They  are  powerful  beasts 
weighing  upwards  of  twelve  stone,  and  can  easily 
overthrow  and  master  a  man. 

When  attacking,  they  at  once  make  for  the  right 
arm,  so  as  to  guard  against  a  pistol  bullet,  and  they 
are  also  trained  to  refuse  food  except  from  the  hands 
of  those  they  know,  so  as  to  safeguard  them  against 
poisoning.  As  a  proof  of  their  efficiency,  Mademoiselle 
Clary  informed  the  writer  that  one  of  her  police  dogs 
had  captured  nine  apaches  in  one  night. 

Last  year  a  demonstration  was  given  in  Londo: 
before  the  most  eminent  representatives  of  the  Metro 
politan  police  force,  the  apache  being  represented  by  a 
man  thickly  padded  to  protect  him  from  the  teeth 
of  the  dogs.  When  the  man  attempted  to  escape 
over  a  screen  representing  a  wall  the  great  hound, 
"  Max,"  promptly  caught  him  and  dragged  him  down 
again,  as  is  shown  in  the  accompanying  photograph 
which   is  here   reproduced   by  permission   of   Mdlle. 


: 


»«  ».    »  » 


FRENCH    POLICE    DOG 
By  kind  permission  of  Mdlle.   Clary  and  "  The  Daily  Mirror 


DETECTION  AND  CAPTURE  33 

Clary  and  the  Daily  Mirror.  The  dog  also  easily 
cleared  this  wall,  which  was  8  ft.  10  in.  high,  in  one 
bound,  and  captured  a  "  padded  apache "  as  he 
climbed  down  on  the  other  side. 

Police  dogs  trained  on  these  lines  have  for  some 
time  past  been  used  to  assist  the  police  in  Glasgow, 
and  within  the  last  few  months  Nottingham  has 
strengthened  its  police  force  by  the  addition  of  dogs. 

The  dogs  used  in  this  country  are  powerful  cross- 
bred animals  of  the  Airedale  terrier  type,  specially 
reared  and  trained  by  Major  Richardson.  The  first 
dog  used  for  the  purpose  in  this  country  was  given  to 
the  Berkshire  Constabulary,  and  its  duties  are  to 
accompany  a  policeman  on  his  rounds  at  Windsor, 
to  protect  him  from  attack,  and,  if  necessary,  to  capture 
escaping  criminals. 

From  two  to  three  months  are  required  to  train  the 
dogs  for  this  purpose. 

In  what  may  be  described  as  circumstantial  detec- 
tion a  very  faint  clue  has  sometimes  resulted  in  the 
discovery  of  a  criminal.  One  of  the  most  striking 
examples  of  the  kind  was  seen  in  1864,  when  a  gentle- 
man named  Briggs  was  murdered  on  the  North  London 
railway,  for  the  sake  of  his  watch  and  money. 

The  murderer  succeeded  in  escaping  without  having 
been  noticed  by  anyone,  and  the  crime  would  probably 
have  made  another  in  the  long  list  of  unsolved  mys- 
teries, but  for  several  slips  that  were  made  by  him. 

He  had  changed  hats  with  his  victim  and  his  soft 
felt  hat,  which  was  found  upon  Mr.  Briggs,  was  one 
of  the  chief  factors  in  his  subsequent  identification. 

Hats  of  this  particular  shape,  by  the  way,  were 

3— (211 1) 


34  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

for    many    years    afterwards    popularly    known    as 
"  Miillers." 

The  watch  and  chain  of  the  murdered  man  were 
soon  traced  to  the  shop  of  a  London  jeweller,  who 
stated  that  he  had  given  another  watch  and  chain 
in  exchange  for  them.  He  remembered  the  man 
and  was  able  to  give  a  description  of  his  appearance, 
although  he  had  no  knowledge  of  his  name  or 
whereabouts. 

At  this  point  all  further  signs  of  the  trail  were  lost, 
for  all  efforts  to  discover  the  jeweller's  customer 
proved  fruitless. 

Some  time  afterwards,  however,  a  man  called  at 
Scotland  Yard  with  a  jeweller's  small  cardboard 
box,  which,  he  said,  a  man  who  had  recently  been 
lodging  at  his  house  had  given  to  his  little  girl.  On 
this  box  was  stamped  the  jeweller's  name,  which, 
ominously  enough,  was  "  Death,"  and  this  man  was 
the  very  jeweller  to  whom  Mr.  Briggs'  watch  had  been 
taken. 

Thanks  to  this  clue  Miiller  was  tracked  first  to 
Liverpool  and  then  to  New  York,  where  he  was 
arrested  and  extradited. 

At  the  trial  the  changed  hat  found  upon  the  victii 
helped  to  prove  his  identity  with  the  murderer,  an< 
he  was  convicted  and  hanged  at  Newgate. 

No  more  extraordinary  instance  of  a  single  circum- 
stance leading  to  the  detection  of  a  criminal  can 
offered  than  in  what  was  known  as  the  "Yarmout] 
Murder." 

On  September  23rd,  1900,  a  woman  was  foun< 
lying  dead  upon  the  beach  at  Yarmouth,  and  from  th( 


DETECTION  AND  CAPTURE  35 

appearance  of  the  body  she  had  evidently  been  stran- 
gled. On  her  fingers  were  some  rings,  but  with  the 
exception  of  the  laundry  mark  upon  her  clothes,  there 
was  no  clue  by  which  she  could  possibly  be  identified. 
She  had  been  staying  for  some  days  in  lodgings  in  the 
town,  and  was  known  to  her  landlady  as  Mrs.  Hood. 
While  she  was  there  letters  bearing  a  Woolwich 
postmark  had  come  addressed  to  her  by  that  name. 
Only  a  day  or  two  before  her  death  she  had  had  her 
photograph  taken  upon  the  beach. 

All  investigation  to  discover  who  the  woman  really 
was  or  to  trace  her  murderer  proved  unavailing,  and 
at  the  coroner's  inquest  a  verdict  was  brought  in  of 
wilful  murder  against  some  person  unknown. 

Subsequently  it  was  discovered  that  the  laundry 
mark  upon  the  dead  woman's  clothes,  599,  was  that 
put  by  a  laundry  upon  the  clothes  sent  to  them  from 
a  particular  house  in  Bexley  Heath.  Further  inquiry 
showed  that  a  woman  named  Bennett  had  formerly 
lived  there,  and  she  was  identified  as  the  original 
of  the  photograph  that  had  been  taken  at 
Yarmouth. 

This  led,  early  in  November,  to  the  arrest  of  the 
dead  woman's  husband,  Bennett,  who  was  a  workman 
in  Woolwich  Arsenal,  and  he  was  committed  for  trial 
on  the  charge  of  murder.  He  denied  all  knowledge 
of  the  crime,  and  asserted  that  he  had  never  been  to 
Yarmouth.  This  was  disproved,  however,  by  col- 
lateral evidence,  and  many  facts  were  brought 
forward  connecting  the  prisoner  with  the  murder. 

The  motive  alleged  for  the  crime  was  that  Bennett 
might  be  free  to  marry  another  woman.     The  date 


36 


SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 


of  the  wedding  had  been  fixed,  and  it  was  shown  that 
his  behaviour  after  the  night  of  the  murder  pointed 
to  his  having  a  knowledge  of  his  wife's  death.  So 
convincing  was  the  whole  of  the  circumstantial  evi- 
dence, that  after  a  short  deliberation  the  jury  brought 
in  a  verdict  of  "  Guilty,"  and  Bennett  was  executed. 


CHAPTER  III 

PERSONAL  IDENTIFICATION 

McKeever's  Experiment  on  Fallibility  of  Eye-witnesses 
r— Gorse  Hall  Murder — Cases  of  Mistaken  Identity — 
Gun-flash  Recognition — Self-deception — Tichborne  Case. 

The  untrustworthiness  of  the  eye-witness  as  to  detail 
was  recently  demonstrated  by  Professor  McKeever 
at  the  Kansas  State  College  in  the  following  manner. * 
He  asked  twenty-five  students  at  the  college  to  witness 
a  short  drama,  and  immediately  afterwards  to  write 
a  detailed  description  of  the  characters  and  incidents. 
This  little  drama,  which  was  supposed  to  take  place 
in  one  of  the  class-rooms,  ran  as  follows  : — 

Jones,  a  tall  man,  wearing  a  hat  and  a  black 
mask  over  his  eyes,  nose  and  mouth,  and  dressed 
in  a  grey  rain-coat  rushed  in  carrying  a  salt  bag 
half  full  of  nails  in  his  left  hand  and  a  small  wrench 
in  his  right  hand.  Across  his  left  cheek  was  a 
streak  of  red  paint. 

When  just  inside  the  door  he  turned  and  pointing 
the  wrench  at  some  pursuers,  shouted  "Stand  back, 
or  I'll  shoot."  He  then  ran  across  the  room,  fell 
on  his  knees,  and  dropped  the  bag,  saying,  "  There 
it  is,  take  it  "  ;  after  which  he  got  up  and  rushed 
from  the  room. 

Smith  dashed  into  the  room  after  Jones,  crying 
"  Give  it  up,  you  scoundrel,"  and  picked  up  the 
bag  which  Jones  had  dropped.     White,  short  and 

1  Daily  Mirror  report. 

37 


38  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

stout,  dressed  in  a  blue  serge  coat  and  cap,  and 
carrying  a  revolver  with  its  cylinder  removed,  came 
in  last.  He  called  out  to  Smith,  "  Take  it  from 
Eddie,  he  won't  hurt  you  !  "  He  then  went  out 
after  Jones  but  before  Smith. 

The  professor  pretending  to  be  alarmed  jumped 
up  from  his  chair  and  exclaimed,  "  Men,  what  are 
you  up  to  here  ?  " 

These  were  the  actual  facts,  and  the  manner  in 
which  the  accounts  of  the  twenty-five  witnesses 
disagreed  may  be  shown  by  a  few  examples  of  the 
different  particulars  described  : — 

Jones'  appearance  :  (1)  Black  coat,  light  mask. 
(2)  Red  mask,  cheeks  painted  red.  (3)  Black 
coat,  mouth  painted  red.  (4)  Carried  pistol.  (5) 
Cheeks  more  than  natural  redness ;  club  in  his 
hand;  dark  suit.  (6)  Dark  suit.  (7)  Black 
clothes.  (8)  Red  mask  on ;  black  clothes.  (9) 
Hatless. 

Smith's  appearance  :  (1)  Wore  a  grey  suit.  (2) 
Six-footer.  (3)  Dark  grey  suit.  (4)  Bareheaded. 
(5)  Blue  suit. 

White's  appearance  :  (1)  Dark  suit  and  raincoat. 
(2)  Bareheaded.  (3)  Hardly  noticed  him  (nearly 
everyone  said  this). 

Smith's  conduct :  (1)  Carried  pistol  and  snapped 
it  several  times.  (2)  Came  in  last ;  went  out  second  ; 
said  "  Get  out  of  here."  (3)  Carried  pistol,  snapped 
it  several  times,  and  cried  "  Stop  or  I'll  shoot," 
aiming  at  Jones.  (4)  Dropped .  umbrella  on  floor. 
(5)  Came  in  last,  stayed  behind ;  yelled  "  Catch 
that  man  !  " 


PERSONAL  IDENTIFICATION  39 

Professor's    conduct :     (1)    Said  :     "  What's    all 

this  ?  "  (2)  Said  :  "  What  does  aU  this  mean  ?  "  (3) 

Said  :    "  Here."     (4)  Said  :    "  Hullo,  what's  going 

on  here  "  ?     (5)  Said  :    "  Who  are  these  men  ?  " 

These    discrepancies  illustrate   how   difficult   it   is 

for  the  eye  and  ear  to  record  accurately  the  impressions 

received  in  a  rapid  succession  of  events,  one  of  which 

may  focus  the  attention  to  such  an  extent  that  events 

simultaneously    occurring    are    only    imperfectly    or 

partially  observed. 

The  fallibility  of  identification  by  eye-witnesses 
was  strikingly  demonstrated  at  the  trial  of  Benjamin 
Bates  and  John  Green  at  the  Old  Bailey  in  1776,  on 
the  charge  of  burglary. 

The  house  of  James  Penleage  had  been  broken  into, 
and  plate  to  the  value  of  four  or  five  hundred  pounds 
had  been  stolen. 

Mrs.  Penleage  swore  that  four  men  had  entered 
her  bedroom,  one  of  whom  carried  a  dark  lantern  ; 
that  two  of  these  men  came,  one  on  each  side  of  the 
bed,  and  held  pistols  to  her  head,  and  that  of  these 
men  of  whom  she  had  a  perfect  view,  she  recognised 
one  as  Green  and  the  other  as  Bates. 

Her  husband  testified  as  to  the  house  having  been 
entered,  and  as  to  his  loss,  but  stated  that  as  he  was 
near-sighted  he  would  not  swear  to  the  men,  though 
he  believed  Bates  had  presented  a  pistol  to  his  head. 
Evidence  was  also  given  by  a  servant  and  by  another 
woman,  and  notwithstanding  the  good  character 
given  to  the  prisoners  by  a  number  of  witnesses,  the 
jury  brought  in  a  verdict  of  "  Guilty." 

The  newspapers  of  the  day  called  attention  to  the 


40  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

inconclusive  evidence  of  identification,  and  as  a 
result  the  prisoners  were  respited  from  month  to 
month. 

At  last  another  man,  who  was  executed  in  the 
country,  confessed  that  he  had  also  been  the  author 
of  this  burglary  at  the  house  of  Penleage,  and  that  the 
two  men  who  had  been  convicted  had  had  nothing 
to  do  with  it.  In  consequence  of  this  Bates  and  Green 
received  a  free  pardon,  but  not  until  they  had  been  in 
prison  for  many  months. 

A  contemporary  comment  upon  this  trial  richly 
warrants  quotation : — "  On  this  occasion  Britons 
have  cause  to  triumph  in  the  Liberty  of  the  Press. 
If  newspapers  had  not  been  printed  in  this  country, 
the  lives  of  two  honest  men  would  have  been  sacrificed 
to  the  rigour  of  the  laws,  yet  no  party  concerned  have 
been  the  least  to  blame.  The  ways  of  Providence 
are  mysterious ;  casual  circumstances  frequently 
produce  great  effects  ;  and  a  life  may  be  saved  or  lost 
by  an  accident  apparently  beneath  the  notice  of  a 
common  observer." 

Another  very  curious  instance  of  mistaken  identity 
was  that  brought  out  in  a  trial  for  robbery  in  1784. 
A  barrister  had  been  attacked  and  robbed  in  broad 
daylight,  and  he  positively  swore  that  he  had  recog- 
nised two  men  named  Wood  and  Brown  as  his  assail- 
ants. Fortunately  for  them  the  prisoners  were  able 
to  prove  an  alibi,  which  showed  beyond  all  doubt  that 
they  were  far  from  the  spot  at  the  time,  and  they  were 
accordingly  acquitted.  Subsequently  the  real  robbers 
were  discovered  and  found  in  possession  of  the  missing 
property.     In  this  case  there  was  a  man  of  trained 


PERSONAL  IDENTIFICATION  41 

observation,  being  absolutely  certain  of  the  identity 
of  two  men,  who  had  never  been  near  the  place. 

The  case  of  the  Perreaus,  related  in  a  subsequent 
page,  was  another  example  of  the  kind.  The  two 
brothers,  who  were  twins,  were  so  exactly  alike  that 
a  money  scrivener  who  had  drawn  up  bonds  by  order 
of  one  or  the  other  of  them  hesitated  to  fix  upon  either. 
At  last,  when  pressed  to  make  a  positive  declaration, 
he  fixed  upon  Daniel  as  the  brother  who  had  come  to 
him  in  connection  with  the  forged  bond. 

In  1797  a  mistake  as  to  identity  resulted  in  the  death 
of  two  men.  Martin  Church,  a  bookseller,  and  James 
Mackley,  a  printer,  were  tried  that  year  at  the  Old 
Bailey  on  the  charge  of  murdering  Sydney  Fryer,  at 
the  back  of  Islington  workhouse.  Miss  Anne  Fryer, 
who  was  with  her  cousin  at  the  time  he  was  attacked, 
swore  positively  that  the  two  prisoners  were  the 
assailants. 

Some  years  later  Burton  Wood,  who  was  executed 
at  Kennington  Common,  and  Timmins,  who  was 
hanged  at  Reading,  confessed  separately  that  they  had 
done  the  deed  for  which  the  other  men  had  suffered. 

In  modern  times  the  case  of  Adolph  Beck,  who  was 
twice  wrongfully  convicted  through  his  unfortunate 
resemblance  to  another  man  is  notorious,  and  has  been 
the  subject  of  a  special  report. 

The  most  recent  and  strangest  instances  of  wrong 
identification  arose  out  of  the  mysterious  crime  which 
became  known  as  the  "  Gorse  Hall "  murder. 

In  November,  1909,  Mr.  Storrs,  a  wealthy  mill- 
owner,  who  lived  at  Gorse  Hall,  in  a  lonely  district 
in  Cheshire,  was  attacked  by  a  man  who  had  forced 


42  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

his  way  into  the  house.  A  desperate  struggle  followed, 
in  the  course  of  which  Mr.  Storrs  was  repeatedly  stabbed 
with  a  knife  and  fatally  wounded.  His  assailant 
also  attempted  to  shoot  him  with  a  revolver,  but  this 
was  snatched  from  him  by  Mrs.  Storrs. 

A  relation  of  Mr.  Storrs,  named  Howard,  who  was 
an  ex-soldier,  was  arrested  and  charged  with  the 
murder.  At  the  trial  that  took  place  at  the  Chester 
Assizes  in  March,  1910,  he  was  positively  identified 
by  the  widow  of  the  murdered  man,  who  swore  that 
she  recognised  him  by  "  the  look  in  his  eyes."  He 
was  also  identified  by  some  of  the  servants  at  the  Hall 
as  the  assailant  of  Mr.  Storrs. 

Fortunately  Howard  was  able  at  prove  conclu- 
sively that  he  was  somewhere  else  at  the  time  of  the 
murder. 

Some  time  later,  another  ex-soldier  named  Mark 
Wilde  was  arrested  upon  the  same  charge,  and  once 
more  evidence  of  identification  was  given  by  the  same 
witnesses  as  in  the  previous  trial,  though  they  were 
now  less  positive  in  their  assertions. 

The  two  men,  Howard  and  Wilde,  bore  a  singular 
resemblance  to  each  other,  and  evidence  was  given  that 
at  the  time  of  the  murder  Wilde  was  dressed  in  dark 
clothes,,  dark  cap  and  muffler,  which  was  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  clothes  of  Mr.  Storrs'  assailant  given  by 
witnesses  at  the  first  trial. 

Stains  upon  the  prisoner's  clothing  were  identified 
as  human  blood  by  the  serum  test.  The  revolver 
which  Mrs.  Storrs  had  snatched  from  the  murderer 
was  also  identified  as  having  belonged  to  Wilde,  for 
it  was  recognised  by  two  ex-soldiers  who  had,  they 


PERSONAL  IDENTIFICATION  43 

alleged,  frequently  seen  it  in  his  hands,  by  its  broken 
spring  and  marks  upon  its  barrel. 

For  the  defence,  however,  witnesses  were  called  to 
prove  that  the  revolver  taken  from  the  murderer  was 
not  identical  with  that  of  Wilde,  and  that  the  blood 
upon  his  clothes  was  the  result  of  a  fight  he  had  had 
upon  the  night  of  the  crime. 

No  motive  could  be  alleged,  and  the  jury  distrusting 
the  evidence  of  identification,  found  the  prisoner 
"Not  guilty." 

The  murder  was  thus  unique  in  the  fact  that  two 
innocent  men  were  in  succession  identified  as  the 
assailant  and  acquitted. 

With  regard  to  the  amount  of  light  needed  for  the 
recognition  of  a  person,  curious  scientific  evidence 
has  been  given  in  trials,  and  several  cases  are  on  record 
where  witnesses  have  claimed  to  identify  a  person 
by  a  momentary  flash.  A  notable  instance  of  this 
kind  was  seen  at  the  trial  of  Joseph  Brook  for  burglary 
at  the  York  Assizes  in  1813. 

The  prisoner,  it  was  alleged,  had  broken  into  the 
house  of  a  farmer  named  Strickland  at  Kirk  Heaton. 

Anne  Armitage,  a  niece  of  the  farmer,  deposed  that 
he  had  struck  upon  the  stone  floor  with  something 
she  took  for  a  sword  to  intimidate  her,  that  it  pro- 
duced a  flash,  and  gave  a  light  by  which  she  could 
see  his  face.  She  swore  that  she  had  seen  enough  by 
the  momentary  flash  to  recognise  him  again.  She 
had  also  heard  his  voice,  and  knew  it  again  when  she 
heard  it  later,  and  thought  she  could  undertake  to 
say  that  it  was  the  voice  of  the  accused  man. 

The  prisoner  set  up  an  alibi,  and  the  jury,  although 


44  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

as  they  stated  subsequently,  not  believing  in  this 
alibi,  returned  a  verdict  of  "  Not  guilty." 

The  question  of  the  possibility  of  a  person  firing  a 
gun  or  pistol  being  identified  by  the  light  of  the  flash 
was  submitted  to  a  committee  of  scientific  men  in 
Paris,  in  1809,  and  their  conclusion  was  that  such 
identification  was  not  possible. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  evidence  in  a  case  that  was 
tried  shortly  afterwards  in  France  indicated  that 
under  favourable  conditions  the  face  of  the  person 
who  had  fired  a  gun  might  be  recognised.  A  man  had 
fired  at  another  at  night,  and  a  woman  who  was  near 
at  the  time,  swore  at  the  trial  that  the  flash  had 
plainly  shown  her  the  face  of  the  assailant.  Similar 
evidence  was  also  given  by  the  man  who  had  been 
wounded. 

Experiments  to  determine  this  point  were  made  by 
Desgranges,  at  Lyons,  and  from  the  results  of  these 
he  concluded  that  there  was  a  possibility  of  such  identi- 
fication at  a  short  distance  from  the  flash  of  the  gun, 
provided  that  the  night  was  very  dark  and  that  there 
was  no  other  source  of  light  to  interfere  with  the  gun- 
flash  ;  but  that  if  the  flash  was  very  pronounced, 
or  much  smoke  was  produced  it  was  not  possible  to 
recognise  the  person  firing  the  gun. 

Juries  have  always  been  reluctant  to  convict  a 
prisoner  upon  evidence  of  this  kind.  For  instance, 
at  the  trial  of  a  man  named  White  at  Croydon  in  1839, 
the  prisoner  was  accused  of  firing  at  a  gentleman  while 
he  was  driving  home  in  an  open  trap,  and  his  intended 
victim,  who  was  shot  in  the  elbow,  swore  positively 
that  the  flash  of  the  gun  showed  so  clearly  the  features 


PERSONAL  IDENTIFICATION  45 

of  his  assailant  that  he  was  absolutely  certain  that 
he  was  the  prisoner.  The  defendant  denied  the 
charge  and,  notwithstanding  the  positive  statement 
of  the  principal  witness,  was  acquitted. 

There  are  other  instances,  however,  where  con- 
victions have  resulted  from  such  momentary  glimpses. 
Thus,  at  the  trial  of  some  highwaymen  in  1799,  which 
is  quoted  by  Paris  and  Fonblanque  (1823),  it  was 
stated  by  a  Bow  Street  officer  that  he,  together  with 
some  of  his  companions,  had  been  fired  at  by  the 
prisoners  upon  a  dark  night,  upon  Hounslow  Heath. 
He  swore  that  the  flash  of  the  pistol  enabled  him  to 
see  that  one  of  the  assailants,  a  man  named  Haines, 
who  had  come  up  to  the  side  of  the  coach,  was  riding 
upon  a  dark  brown  horse  which  had  certain  peculiarities 
about  its  head  and  shoulders,  and  that  the  rider  was 
wearing  a  rough  brown  coat.  Afterwards,  said  the 
witness,  he  had  seen  the  same  horse  in  a  stable  in 
Long  Acre,  in  London,  and  had  recognised  it  as  the 
one  upon  which  the  man  was  riding  by  its  curious 
square  head  and  thick  shoulders.  The  jury  believed 
the  evidence  of  this  witness,  and  the  prisoner  was 
convicted. 

A  case  within  the  experience  of  a  former  Recorder 
of  Birmingham  (Hill)  is  mentioned  in  Wills'  Circum- 
stantial Evidence.  A  man  was  committed  for  trial 
at  the  Assizes  at  Derby,  in  1840,  on  the  charge  of 
shooting  at  a  young  woman. 

She  was  prepared  to  swear  that  she  had  recognised 
him  by  the  momentary  flash  of  the  gun. 

Experiments  were  made  to  determine  to  what 
extent  reliance  could  be  placed  upon  such  identification, 


46  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

and  the  conclusion  drawn  from  these  was  that 
"  all  stories  of  recognition  from  the  flash  of  a  gun 
or  pistol  must  be  founded  on  a  fallacy." 

In  addition  to  these,  several  instances,  collected 
from  different  sources,  are  referred  to  in  Taylor's 
Medical  Jurisprudence,  where  the  general  conclusion 
is  drawn  that  occasionally  it  may  be  possible  to 
identify  an  assailant  in  this  way. 

From  the  same  source  comes  the  amusing  story 
of  a  man  who  swore  that  he  recognised  an  assailant 
who  attacked  him  in  the  dark,  by  the  flash  produced 
by  a  blow  upon  his  eye  !  The  absurdity  of  the  claim 
is  self-evident,  for  the  "  flashes  "  due  to  a  blow  do  not 
emit  light,  and  can  therefore  never  cause  any  external 
object  to  be  visible. 

A  curious  factor  influencing  the  value  of  evidence 
of  personal  identification  is  the  readiness  with  which 
credulous  humanity  will  accept  any  story  however 
improbable.  But  for  this  the  notorious  Tichborne 
case,  which  dragged  on  for  years,  would  have  been 
settled  in  a  few  days.  It  is  difficult  now,  recalling 
the  facts,  to  understand  how  anyone  could  have 
believed  in  the  identity  of  the  butcher,  Arthur  Or  ton, 
with  the  missing  heir  to  the  estates,  Roger  Tichborne. 
The  latter  was  of  a  slim  build,  while  the  claimant  was 
a  couple  of  inches  taller  and  weighed  twenty-five 
stones.  The  real  Roger  had  had  the  education  of  a 
gentleman,  while  the  claimant  could  neither  write 
nor  speak  correctly. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  the  enormous  dissimilarity 
in  appearance  and  manners  of  the  two  men,  the  mother 
of  Roger  Tichborne  recognised  Orton  as  the  son  whom 


PERSONAL  IDENTIFICATION  47 

she  and  everyone  else  had  believed  to  have  been 
drowned  when  the  ship  was  wrecked.  When  he  came 
to  England  to  see  her  he  had  thought  it  prudent  to 
feign  illness.  Lady  Tichborne,  therefore,  went  to  see 
him,  and  he  got  on  the  bed,  and  turned  his  face  to  the 
wall.  His  adopted  mother,  however,  recognised  him 
by  his   "  ears  so  like  his  uncle's." 

This  must  have  been  an  instance  of  self-deception, 
for  there  was  evidence  that  the  lobes  of  the  ears  of 
the  two  men  were  absolutely  different. 

It  was  this  recognition,  however,  that  encouraged 
Orton  to  persevere  with  his  claim  to  the  estates,  and 
assisted  in  aiding  the  recollection  of  other  people, 
who  swore  that  he  was  Roger. 


CHAPTER  IV 

SYSTEMS  OF  IDENTIFICATION 

Photography — Anthropometry — Finger-prints      and      then- 
Uses. 

The  discovery  of  photography  was  welcomed  by  the 
police  authorities  of  civilised  countries  as  affording 
a  certain  means  of  registering  criminals  for  subsequent 
identification.  But  the  promise  that  the  photo- 
graphic method  held  out  was  not  fulfilled ;  for  with  the 
accumulation  of  photographs  there  was  a  corresponding 
increase  in  the  difficulties  and  uncertainties  attending 
the  identification  of  the  originals. 

Apart  from  difficulties  due  to  the  effects  of  the 
changes  produced  by  time  or  by  intentional  disguise, 
it  was  no  fight  task  to  search  through  many  thousands 
of  prints  to  see  whether  a  particular  individual  had 
been  photographed  ten  years  previously,  and  physical 
weariness  of  the  searchers  must  frequently  have  set 
an  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  identification. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  a  matter  of  common  know- 
ledge, that  two  photographs  of  the  same  person, 
taken  under  different  conditions  of  lighting  or  with 
different  lenses  may  readily  be  thought  to  be  the  por- 
traits of  two  distinct  individuals,  or  that  a  photograph 
of  one  person  may  unduly  emphasise  a  momentary 
expression  differing  from  the  normal  one,  with  the 
result  that  the  portrait  may  be  mistaken  for  a  likeness 
of  someone  else.  These  considerations  fully  explain 
the   numerous   instances   of  mistaken  identification, 

48 


SYSTEMS  OF   IDENTIFICATION  49 

some  of  which  are  cited  below,  where  the  police  based 
their  recognition  upon  old  photographs. 

Prior  to  the  introduction  of  the  anthropometric  and 
finger-print  systems,  the  insufficiency  of  the  photo- 
graphic records  kept  by  the  police  in  this  country  for 
the  identification  of  criminals  was  repeatedly  proved. 
The  advisability  of  introducing  the  French  anthro- 
pometric system  into  England  was  raised  in  Parlia- 
ment on  several  occasions  in  1887  and  1888,  but 
each  time  the  Home  Secretary  defended  the  system 
of  photographic  registration  as  being  sufficiently 
satisfactory,  while  he  considered  it  doubtful  whether 
the  French  system  would  be  any  better. 

A  sufficient  answer  to  this  official  defence  was 
afforded  by  the  number  of  cases  of  mistaken  recog- 
nition from  photographs,  that  shortly  afterwards  were 
brought  before  both  Houses  of  Parliament. 

In  1888,  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  (Coleridge)  men- 
tioned an  instance  that  had  come  under  his  notice 
at  the  Gloucester  Assizes.  After  a  man  had  been 
convicted  of  some  small  offence  police  evidence  was 
given  that  the  prisoner  was  a  man  who  had  been 
convicted  before.  This  was  subsequently  proved  to 
be  a  mistake. 

Again,  in  July,  1889,  after  the  conviction  of  a 
prisoner,  evidence  was  given  by  a  warder  that  the  man 
was  one  who  had  been  sentenced  to  seven  years' 
penal  servitude  and  seven  years'  police  supervision. 

It  was  found  afterwards,  however,  that  this  man 
had  been  previously  convicted  in  1882  and  therefore 
could  not  possibly  have  been  the  person  alleged.  The 
remarkable  feature  about  this  mistake  was  that  both 

4 —  2iai) 


50  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

men  had  been  under  the  police  control  at  the  same 
time. 

The  failure  to  identify  a  criminal  from  the  photo- 
graphic records  had  a  tragic  result  in  1888,  when  a 
man  named  Jackson  was  given  a  light  sentence  as  a 
first  offender.  Although  he  had  been  previously 
convicted  of  numerous  crimes,  and  was  at  the  time 
"  wanted  "  by  the  police  for  housebreaking  and  other 
offences  he  escaped  recognition,  and  was  able  to  take 
advantage  of  the  lenient  treatment  he  received  by 
murdering  a  warder  in  the  prison  at  Manchester. 

In  1894  a  Special  Committee  was  appointed  to 
examine  and  report  upon  the  different  systems  of 
identifying  criminals,  and  they  recommended  that  the 
anthropometric  system  was  the  most  satisfactory  for  , 
preliminary  classification,  but  that  for  further  grouping 
the  finger-print  method  gave  the  best  results.  Accord- 
ingly a  system  including  both  methods  was  adopted 
in  this  country  and  was  in  use  until  1901,  when,  as  is 
mentioned  below,  the  present  system  of  finger-print 
identification   was  introduced. 

The   success    of   M.   Bertillon's   system    in  France  - 
speedily  led  to  its  adoption  in  other  countries.     Early 
in  1892  it  was  introduced  into  India,  and  within  six 
years  upwards  of  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  classified 
cards  had  been  collected. 

The  chief  difficulty  was  found  to  lie  in  the  classifica- 
tion of  the  measurements  for  reference,  and  a  committee 
was  accordingly  appointed  by  the  Indian  Government 
to  report  upon  the  system.  Their  report  stated  that 
the  finger-print  method  was  preferable  to  the  anthro- 
pometric system  in  simplicity,  rapidity  and  certainty. 


SYSTEMS  OF  IDENTIFICATION  51 

Since  that  time  (June,  1897)  the  finger-print  method 
has  been  in  use  in  India  for  the  identification  of 
criminals. 

The  system  of  identification  by  bodily  measure- 
ments, which  has  now  come  to  be  known  as  bertillonage, 
was  first  introduced  as  a  method  of  police  registration 
in  Paris  in  1882.  During  the  first  year  of  its  employ- 
ment it  detected  forty-nine  criminals  giving  false  names, 
while  in  the  following  year  the  number  rose  to  241. 

In  1889  M.  Bertillon  stated  that  there  had  not 
been  a  single  case  of  mistaken  identity  since  the 
system  had  been  introduced,  and  that  in  the  previous 
year  31,849  prisoners  had  been  measured  in  Paris, 
615  of  whom  were  in  this  way  recognised  as  former 
convicts,  while  fourteen  were  subsequently  recognised 
in  prison.  Of  the  latter,  ten  had  never  previously  been 
examined,  so  that  the  failures  were  only  four  in  32,000, 
or  one  in  8,000. 

The  system,  as  described  by  M.  Bertillon  himself 
in  a  pamphlet  on  The  Identification  of  the  Criminal 
Classes,  consists  in  taking  the  measurements  of  the 
body  structure  of  each  individual.  Although  such 
measurements  might  be  indefinitely  extended,  the 
number  is  usually  restricted  to  twelve,  including  the 
height,  length  and  width  of  the  head,  length  of  the 
middle  finger,  of  the  foot,  etc. 

These  measurements  are  rapidly  taken  with  standard 
instruments  by  a  special  staff,  and  are  recorded  upon 
a  card  upon  which  are  pasted  full  face  and  profile 
photographs  of  the  prisoner. 

The  data  obtained  enable  the  photographs  to  be 
classified   into    different    groups    of    short,    medium, 


52  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

and  tall  men,  and  these,  again,  may  be  subdivided 
into  groups  of  short,  medium,  and  long  heads,  while 
further  subdivisions  are  afforded  by  the  width  of  the 
head,  width  of  the  arms  outstretched  at  an  angle  of 
the  body  and  so  on.  The  colour  of  the  eyes  affords  the 
means  for  a  further  subdivision,  while  special  birth- 
marks or  peculiarities  differentiate  the  individuals 
still   further. 

In  this  way  alone,  M.  Bertillon  claims  that  100,000 
persons  can  be  classified  into  groups  of  ten  each, 
the  portraits  in  which  would  offer  no  difficulty  in 
examination. 

M.  Bertillon  undoubtedly  puts  the  position  too 
favourably  here,  in  assuming  division  into  equal 
groups ;  for  out  of  his  hypothetical  100,000  individuals, 
seventy-five  per  cent,  might  conceivably  be  tall  men, 
and  seventy-five  per  cent,  of  these,  again  have  long 
heads,  so  that  the  final  groups  would  in  some  cases 
have  no  representatives,  while  in  the  other  groups  there 
might  be  1,000  individuals. 

In  recording  the  colour  of  the  eyes  a  special  table 
is  used,  the  scale  of  which  is  based  upon  the  intensity 
of  the  pigment  of  the  iris.  A  number  corresponding 
to  one  of  the  following  groups  is  then  assigned  : — 
(1)  Iris,  azure  blue,  with  areola  pale  but  free  from 
yellow  pigment ;  (2)  Iris  blue  or  slate,  with  light 
yellow  areola;  (3)  Same  shade,  with  larger  areola 
approaching  orange ;  (4)  Iris,  greenish  reflection ; 
hazel  areola  ;  (5)  Same  shade  with  dark  hazel  areola  ; 
(6)  Hazel  distributed  over  surface  of  iris ;  (7)  Eye 
entirely  hazel. 

When  first  the  system  was  introduced  into  Paris 


SYSTEMS  OF  IDENTIFICATION  53 

it  was  a  common  practice  for  the  old  offenders  to 
change  their  names  and  try  to  escape  identification, 
but,  according  to  M.  Bertillon,  after  a  few  years  this 
was  only  done  by  those  who  had  been  away  from 
Paris  for  a  long  period,  or  had  some  very  special  reason 
for  attempting  to  slip  through  the  examination 
unrecognised. 

A  similar  method  is  employed  in  the  United  States 
Army  for  recognising  deserters.  Each  man  on  joining 
is  measured,  and  an  outline  figure  card  showing  the 
measurements  of  the  front  and  back  surfaces,  which 
are  divided  into  areas  by  means  of  dotted  lines,  is 
filed  in  the  Medical  Department  of  the  War  Office. 
When  a  man  deserts  or  is  dismissed  his  card  is  placed 
in  a  separate  file,  and  the  new  cards  of  recruits  are 
compared  with  those  in  this  particular  file. 

A  special  register,  ruled  into  columns  corresponding 
to  the  areas  on  the  cards,  and  giving  the  measurements 
and  any  peculiarities  such  as  scars,  tattoo  marks,  etc., 
is  used  to  facilitate  the  search,  and  when,  on  reference 
to  this,  there  appears  to  be  a  probability  of  a  recruit 
being  identical  with  a  deserter,  the  original  card  is 
used  for  the  comparison. 

During  the  first  five  months  after  the  system  was 
instituted  (1891)  sixty-two  men  were  suspected  of 
concealing  their  identity,  and  in  sixty-one  of  these 
cases  the  suspicion  was  justified  and  the  identity 
acknowledged. 

A  drawback  of  the  Bertillon  system  of  identifica- 
tion is  that  much  depends  upon  the  accuracy  of  the 
person  who  takes  the  measurements,  and  that,  there- 
fore, a  permissible  error  must  be  admitted.     In  the 


54  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

United  States  Army  an  error  of  one  inch  in  either 
direction  is  allowed,  for  the  recorded  height.  In 
addition  to  this,  some  degree  of  natural  variation 
will  take  place  in  the  course  of  years,  and  due  allow- 
ance must  also  be  made  for  this  influence  upon  the 
measurements. 

Striking  as  has  been  the  success  of  M.  Bertillon's 
system  of  anthropometrical  measurements  as  a  means 
of  identification,  it  has  been  altogether  surpassed  in 
certainty  by  the  methods  of  recording  the  impressions 
of  the  fingers.  From  time  to  time  in  the  past  use  has 
been  made  of  a  finger  or  thumb  impression  as  a  seal 
or  to  give  a  personal  mark  of  authenticity  to  a  docu- 
ment. One  of  the  earliest  examples  extant  of  the 
use  of  the  manual  seal  is  to  be  seen  on  one  of  the 
Assyrian  clay  tablets  in  the  British  Museum. 

This  is  imprinted  in  cuneiform  characters,  and 
contains  a  notice  of  the  sale  of  a  field,  which  concludes 
with  the  imprint  of  a  finger  nail,  and  the  statement 
that  this  had  been  made  by  the  seller  of  the  field  as 
his  nail  mark. 

Similar  imprints  of  nails  are  to  be  seen  upon  Chinese 
coins,  as  has  been  pointed  out  by  Sir  Francis  Galton, 
and  a  tradition  has  it  that  they  were  first  put  there 
as  a  compliment  to  an  early  Chinese  Empress  who 
had  accidentally  pressed  her  finger  nail  into  the  wax 
model  of  a  coin  that  had  been  submitted  for  her 
approval.  The  ancient  Egyptians  caused  criminals 
to  seal  their  confessions  with  finger  nails. 

There  are  also  numerous  instances  in  which  impres- 
sions of  finger-tips  are  found  upon  documents,  but 
these  do  not  seem  to  have  been  put  there  with  any 


SYSTEMS    OF  IDENTIFICATION  55 

idea  of  identification,  but  rather  to  have  been  of  the 
nature  of  a  ceremonial  observance  comparable  with 
the  legal  survival  of  putting  a  finger  upon  the  seal  of 
a  document,  and  delivering  it  as  "  my  act  and  deed." 

The  first  attempt  by  Europeans  to  make  use  of 
the  characteristic  ridges  of  the  fingers  to  record  the 
identity  of  individuals  appears  to  have  been  that  of 
Sir  William  Herschel,  who  introduced  a  method  officially 
into  Bengal. 

His  system  arose  out  of  the  difficulty  of  checking 
forgeries  by  the  natives  in  India,  and  his  having  made 
two  of  them  record  their  finger  impressions  upon 
contracts,  so  that  he  might  be  able  to  frighten  them 
should  they  subsequently  deny  their  signatures. 

This  was  in  1858,  and  the  device  proved  so  unex- 
pectedly successful  that  for  several  years  Sir  William 
Herschel  made  a  study  of  the  use  of  finger-prints  in 
identification,  and  finally  found  them  so  satisfactory 
that,  in  1877,  he  gave  instructions  for  their  systematic 
use  in  the  Hooghly. 

A  description  of  the  advantages  that  were  thereby 
reaped  is  given  in  Nature  (1880,  Vol.  XXIII,  23). 
The  frequent  attempts  previously  made  by  the  natives 
to  deny  their  own  signatures  were  completely 
frustrated,  and  documents  thus  stamped  with  a 
finger-print  could  not  afterwards  be  disputed. 

The  use  of  finger-prints  was  also  invaluable  as  a 
means  of  preventing  the  fraudulent  claims  of  pensions 
by  persons  who  were  not  entitled  to  them. 

Then  as  the  system  was  found  to  work  so  well  in 
these  cases  it  was  introduced  into  the  prisons,  each 
new-comer  being  made  to  sign  the  register  with  the 


56  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

finger.  The  official  visitors  had  thus  the  means  of 
satisfying  themselves  as  to  the  identity  of  each  inmate 
of  the  prison. 

Although  Sir  William  Herschel  tried  to  obtain 
permission  to  extend  the  use  of  the  finger-print  identi- 
fication still  further,  his  attempts  did  not  meet  with 
success. 

About  the  same  time  that  Sir  William  Herschel 
published  the  account  of  his  system  a  suggestion  was 
made  to  register  the  Chinese  in  California  by  a  similar 
process,  but  nothing  was  done  in  the  matter. 

There  have  also  been  occasional  applications  of 
the  method  to  prevent  forgery,  as,  for  instance,  in 
1882  in  the  payment  orders  signed  by  Mr.  Thomson 
of  the  American  Geological  Survey,  upon  which;  as  a 
safeguard,  he  made  the  imprint  of  his  own  ringer. 

It  is  to  Sir  William  Herschel,  however,  that  the 
credit  is  due  of  having  established  the  first  modern 
systematic  process  of  registration  of  individuals  by 
means  of  finger  impressions. 

According  to  Dr.  Faulds,  the  Chinese  from  time 
immemorial  have  caused  their  convicted  criminals  to 
make  impressions  of  their  finger-tips  as  a  record,  but 
he  gives  no  details  of  their  system  of  classifying  the 
prints,  if  such  exists. 

The  curious  markings  upon  which  are  based  these 
systems  of  identification  are  not  confined  to  the 
human  race,  but  are  also  shown  by  monkeys  and  to 
a  less  pronounced  extent  by  other  animals. 

The  pattern  upon  the  surface  of  the  skin  upon  the 
palms  of  the  hand  and  soles  of  the  feet  is  formed  by 
the  arrangement  of  what  is  known  as  the  papillary 


SYSTEMS  OF  IDENTIFICATION  57 

ridges.  It  is  readily  recorded  by  carefully  coating 
the  finger-tips  with  a  fine  layer  of  printing  or  ordinary 
ink  and  pressing  them  upon  paper  so  as  to  leave  an 
imprint  of  the  markings  upon  the  finger. 

The  uses  of  these  ridges  is  to  assist  the  delicacy 
of  touch,  and  also  to  excrete  perspiration  through 
the  minute  pores  with  which  they  are  covered. 

The  effect  of  rough  work  upon  the  ridges  is  to 
increase  their  height,  and  eventually  they  may  become 
covered  up  by  the  horny  accretions  known  as  callos- 
ities. On  the  other  hand,  the  ridges  upon  the  palms 
of  people  who  do  very  little  manual  labour  are  much 
less  apparent,  and  when  the  skin  is  thin  are  very  low. 
Hence,  in  the  hands  of  bedridden  invalids  there  is 
only  a  slight  development  of  the  ridges. 

Several  circumstances  may  lead  to  a  temporary 
obliteration  of  the  ridges,  such  as,  for  instance,  the 
constant  puncturing  of  the  skin  by  the  head  of  a  needle 
in  sewing,  and  the  imprint  of  the  forefinger  of  a 
tailor  will  therefore  often  present  a  very  characteristic 
mottled  appearance. 

More  permanent  alterations  are  produced  by  cuts 
or  by  wounds  that  have  healed  and  left  a  white  scar. 
An  instance  of  this  is  seen  in  D  in  the  plate  (p.  66), 
which  represents  a  print  of  the  left-hand  thumb  of  the 
present  writer.  Running  across  the  ridges,  and  breaking 
their  continuity  is  a  line  which  marks  the  place  where 
twenty  years  ago  the  slip  of  a  knife  nearly  severed  a 
piece  from  the  thumb.  The  effect  of  this  cut  has  been 
to  add  a  fresh  feature  of  identity  to  those  furnished 
by  the  original  ridges,  without  interfering  with  the 
identification  of  the  latter. 


58  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

In  the  case  of  jagged  cuts  or  of  scars  formed  in  the 
healing  of  an  ulcer  the  ridges  may  be  so  distorted  as 
to  be  practically  indistinguishable  in  that  place,  or 
they  may  even  be  entirely  obliterated.  Old  age  has 
also  an  obliterating  effect  upon  the  ridges,  so  much 
so  that  the  finger-prints  of  an  old  man  frequently 
exhibit  transverse  white  markings,  indicating  signs 
of  the  surface  disintegration  of  the  skin. 

A  most  important  point  in  the  application  of  finger- 
prints to  the  identification  of  the  individual  is  the 
persistence  of  the  main  details  throughout  life,  since 
otherwise  much  of  the  value  of  the  method  would  be 
lost.  The  observations  made  by  Sir  William  Herschel 
in  India  showed  that  after  the  lapse  of  twenty  years 
there  was  so  little  change  in  the  finger-prints  of  a 
large  number  of  persons  that  they  could  still  readily 
be  identified  in  this  way. 

Sir  Francis  Galton  has  also  proved  the  persistence 
of  the  general  peculiarities  in  the  prints  for  periods 
of  over  thirty  years.  He  points  out  that  an  exact 
correspondence  as  to  the  minutiae  is  not  always  to 
be  expected,  since  what  appears  to  be  a  ridge  in  one 
print  may  be  really  the  result  of  imperfect  printing 
of  an  enclosure.  Apart  from  possible  imperfections 
in  the  method,  there  is  also  a  possibility  of  variation 
due  to  the  effect  of  age  rendering  the  ridges  less 
continuous. 

In  one  of  the  examples  given  by  him  finger-prints 
were  taken  of  a  child  of  two  and  a  half  in  1877,  anc 
again  thirteen  years  later.  Between  two  of  the  prints 
there  were  forty-two  points  of  resemblance  and  onh 
one   point   of   difference.     This   was   a   small   forkec 


SYSTEMS  OF  IDENTIFICATION  59 

ridge  which  appeared  in  the  print  of  the  baby,  but  had 
been  filled  up  in  the  print  from  the  boy.  This  instance 
is  mentioned  as  unique,  for  in  every  other  case  examined 
by  Sir  Francis  Galton,  comparing  prints  of  the  boy  with 
the  man,  and  the  man  with  the  old  man  there  was  perfect 
correspondence  between  the  selected  points.  He 
therefore  concludes  that  "  we  are  justified  in  inferring 
that  between  birth  and  death  there  is  absolutely 
no  change  in,  say,  699  out  of  700  of  the  numerous 
characteristics  in  the  markings  of  the  same  person 
such  as  can  be  impressed  by  them  whenever  it  is 
desirable  to  do  so." 

An  interesting  series  of  photographs  was  recently 
exhibited  by  the  Chief  Commissioner  of  the  Police. 
These  included  the  portraits  of  three  men  who  so 
closely  resembled  one  another  that  they  would  readily 
have  been  mistaken  for  one  another  in  photographs. 
Their  finger-prints,   however,   were   quite   distinct. 

So  persistent  are  these  distinctive  markings  that 
they  last  as  long  as  the  skin  itself,  and  may  be  clearly 
seen  upon  the  fingers  of  Egyptian  mummies. 

However  much  the  general  dimensions  of  the 
pattern  of  the  prints  may  be  changed  by  the  advance 
of  age  or  the  effect  of  disease,  the  number  of  the  pattern 
will  still  remain.  To  use  the  apt  illustration  of  Sir 
Francis  Galton,  the  changes  to  be  expected  are  com- 
parable with  those  seen  in  a  piece  of  lace.  The 
material  may  be  stretched  in  one  or  the  other  direction 
or  shrunken  to  half  its  former  dimensions,  but  the 
individual  loops  and  knots  may  be  identified  with 
those  in  the  original  fabric. 

As  is  the   case  with  all  the  other  measurements 


60  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

of  the  human  body  alterations  will  occur  in  the  size 
of  the  markings ;  for  the  pattern  as  a  whole  increases 
with  the  growth  of  the  finger,  but  this  growth  does 
not  affect  the  arrangement  of  the  loops  and  ridges  that 
make  up  the  markings  upon  the  skin. 

In  no  other  way  than  a  study  of  the  finger-prints 
is  it  possible  to  find  over  a  thousand  points  of  com- 
parison upon  which  to  establish  the  identity  of  an 
individual. 

In  estimating  the  value  of  finger-prints  as  evidence 
of  identity,  Sir  Francis  Gait  on  found  that  out  of 
1,000  thumb-prints  the  collection  could  be  classified 
into  100  groups  each  containing  prints  with  a  more 
or  less  close  resemblance  to  one  another.  He  further 
found  that  on  the  average  it  was  impossible  to  put 
great  reliance  upon  the  general  resemblance  between 
two  given  prints  as  a  proof  that  they  were  produced 
by  the  same  finger,  though  obvious  difference  was  a 
proof  that  they  were  produced  by  different  fingers. 

But  on  studying  the  minutiae  of  the  patterns,  and 
calculating  the  chances  that  the  print  of  a  single 
finger  should  agree  in  all  particulars  with  the  print 
of  another  finger,  he  concluded  that  it  was  as  one  is 
to  about  sixty-four  millions ;  so  that  the  chance  of 
two  persons  giving  similar  prints  from  a  single  finger 
would  be  less  than  one  in  four.  If  the  comparisons 
were  extended  to  two  fingers  the  improbability  of 
agreement  in  all  details  would  be  squared,  "  reach- 
ing a  figure  altogether  beyond  the  range  of 
imagination." 

The  general  conclusion  drawn  from  these  numerical 
results  was  that  even  after  making  all  allowance  for 


SYSTEMS  OF  IDENTIFICATION  61 

ambiguities  and  for  possible  alterations  caused  by 
accident  or  disease,  a  complete,  or  nearly  complete, 
agreement  between  two  prints  of  one  finger  and 
infinitely  more  so  between  two  or  more  fingers,  afforded 
evidence,  which  did  not  stand  in  need  of  corroboration, 
that  the  prints  were  derived  from  the  fingers  of  one 
and  the  same  person. 

In  finger-prints,  therefore,  we  have  the  only  means 
of  proving  the  identity  of  an  individual  beyond  all 
question. 

In  the  prehistoric  flint-holes  at  Brandon,  in  Suffolk, 
there  was  found  some  years  ago  a  pick  made  from  the 
horn  of  an  extinct  elk.  This  had  been  used  by  some 
flint-digger  of  the  stone  age  to  hew  out  of  the  chalk 
the  rough  flints  which  were  subsequently  made  into 
scrapers  and  arrow-heads.  Upon  the  dark  handle  of 
this  instrument  were  the  finger-prints  in  chalk  of  the 
workman,  who,  thousands  of  years  ago,  flung  it  down 
for  the  last  time. 

It  is  strange  to  reflect  that  in  these  perishable 
impressions  he  had  left  a  far  more  permanent  record 
of  his  identity  than  he  could  have  done  by  any  other 
conceivable  means. 

A  striking  feature  in  the  scriptural  account  of  the 
death  of  Jezebel  is  that  her  body  was  devoured  by  the 
dogs,  which  left  nothing  but  the  skull  and  the  palms 
of  her  hands  and  soles  of  her  feet,  so  that  no  man 
might  say  "this  is  Jezebel."  Yet,  as  Sir  Francis 
Galton  pointed  out,  it  was  upon  those  parts  that  the 
dogs  had  spared  that  Jezebel  carried  the  only  certain 
proofs  of  her  identity. 

The    question  of  heredity   in   finger-prints  is  not 


62  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

only  interesting  but  might  also  conceivably  be  a  point 
of  some  importance  in  a  criminal  trial. 

Dr.  Faulds  concluded  that  heredity  played  a  great 
part  in  the  particular  form  of  the  markings.  "  The 
dominancy  of  heredity  in  these  patterns  is  sometimes 
very  striking.  I  have  found  unique  patterns  in  a 
parent  repeated  with  marvellous  accuracy  in  his 
child." 

He  suggested  that  there  might  thus  possibly  be 
an  Orton  type  of  pattern  and  a  Tichborne  type,  to 
one  or  other  of  which  experts  might  have  referred 
the  finger  impressions  of  the  claimant  in  the  celebrated 
case. 

While  there  is  unquestionably  a  general  tendency  for 
a  particular  type  of  finger-prints  to  be  inherited  just 
as  any  other  bodily  peculiarities  are  liable  to  be 
passed  on  from  the  parents  to  the  children,  there  is 
by  no  means  that  definite  relationship  that  Dr.  Faulds 
hoped  to  establish. 

The  observations  made  by  Sir  Francis  Galton  upon 
this  point,  and  the  mathematical  considerations  based 
upon  them  render  it  impossible  to  doubt  that  the 
average  resemblance  between  the  finger-prints  of 
two  brothers  or  of  a  brother  and  sister  is  greater  than 
in  those  of  two  persons  selected  at  random. 

The  general  similarities  in  the  finger-prints  in  rows 
A  and  B  in  the  plate  (p.  66),  which  are  those  of  two 
sisters,  are  obvious. 

The  case  of  twins  is  particularly  interesting,  for  it 
is  well  known  that  when  of  the  same  sex  they  fre- 
quently show  remarkable  physical  and  mental  resem- 
blances or  the  reverse.    Here,  too,  it  was  found  by 


SYSTEMS  OF  IDENTIFICATION  63 

Sir  Francis  Galton  that  the  finger-prints  exhibited 
a  strong  tendency  to  similarity,  although  in  no  case 
were  the  resemblances  so  close  that  the  prints  of  one 
twin  could  be  mistaken  for  those  of  the  other. 

For  instance,  the  resemblance  may  lie  in  the  pattern 
being  made  up  of  loops  or  whorls  in  both,  but  the 
smaller  details,  such  as  the  number  of  the  ridges  or 
their  minute  peculiarities  (e.g.,  dividing  and  then 
reuniting  to  form  a  small  island),  will  not  be  shared. 

The  results  of  other  observations  tended  to  show 
that  the  influence  of  the  mother  upon  the  type  of 
finger-print  is  more  pronounced  than  that  of  the 
father. 

The  existence  of  racial  peculiarities  in  finger-prints, 
which  Dr.  Faulds  believed  that  he  had  discovered  in 
the  case  of  the  Japanese,  has  not  been  borne  out  by 
the  experience  of  others. 

The  observations  of  Sir  Francis  Galton  upon  numbers 
of  prints  representative  of  pure  English,  pure  Welsh, 
Hebrew  and  Negro  proved  unquestionably  that  there 
was  no  pattern  peculiar  to  any  of  these  races. 

The  only  suggestion  of  any  difference  was  that  the 
width  of  the  ridges  appeared  to  be  more  uniform  and 
their  direction  more  parallel  in  the  finger-prints  of 
negroes  than  in  those  of  the  other  races. 

The  same  conclusions  were  drawn  from  the  observa- 
tions upon  the  finger-prints  of  different  classes  of 
individuals,  those  of  art  students  being  compared 
with  those  of  science  students,  of  field  labourers,  and 
of  idiots.  In  each  instance  it  was  possible  to  match 
the  type  of  patterns  in  one  class  with  those  in  any  of 
the  others.    The  patterns    of    the    finger-impression 


64  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

of  a  statesman,  for  instance,  could  be  matched  by  those 
of  an  idiot. 

The  first  attempt  to  classify  the  various  patterns 
formed  by  the  ridges  was  that  of  Purkenje,  a  doctor    ' 
of  medicine  who,  in  1823,  delivered  a  thesis  upon  the 
subject  at  the  University  of  Breslau. 

He  concluded  that  all  the  varieties  of  curves  might 
be  grouped  under  nine  main  heads  or  standard  types, 
which  he  described  as  follows  :-  - 

(1)  Transverse  curves.  (2)  Central  longitudinal  stria. 
(3)  Oblique  stria.  (4)  Oblique  sinus.  (5)  Almond. 
(6)  Spiral.  (7)  Ellipse  or  elliptical  whorl.  (8)  Circle 
or  circular  whorl ;  and  (9)  Double  whorl. 

The  differences  between  these  different  types  are 
best  shown  by  diagrams,  and  the  accompanying 
figure,  reproduced  by  permission  of  Sir  Francis 
Gait  on,  represents  the  cores  of  the  nine  standard 
patterns. 

This  classification,  resting  as  it  does  upon  merely 
superficial  appearances,  does  not  afford  a  certain  means 
of  separating  the  types,  since  factors,  such  as  the 
depth  of  printing,  the  size  of  the  patterns,  and  the 
prominence  of  secondary  details  may  have  an  undue 
influence  in  the  placing  of  a  particular  print  in  one 
or  the  other  group. 

After  numerous  futile  attempts  to  make  use  of 
Purkenje's  system,  Sir  Francis  Galton  discarded  it 
in  favour  of  a  system  in  which  the  triangular  space 
or  spaces  found  in  the  majority  of.  finger  impressions 
was  made  the  basis  of  classification.  Starting  upon 
the  two  divergent  ridges  from  these  spaces  an  outline 
was  then  drawn  as  far  as  it  could  be  traced,  the  course 


THE    STANDARD    PATTERNS    OF    PURKENJE 


CORES    OF   THE    ABOVE    PATTERNS 

1.  Transverse  flexures  5.  Almond 

2.  Central  longitudinal  stria      6.  Spiral 

3.  Oblique  stria  7.  Ellipse 

4.  Oblique  sinus  8.  Circle 

9.   Double  Whorl 
By  kind  permission  of  Messrs.  Macmillan  &  Co.,  Ltd. 


,  '     ' 


SYSTEMS  OF  IDENTIFICATION  65 

of  each  ridge  being  followed  with  minute  fidelity.  In 
this  way  a  series  of  sharply-defined  outline  figures 
were  obtained. 

The  various  patterns  may,  as  a  rule,  be  classified 
into  the  three  main  groups  of  arches,  loops  and  whorls, 
while  some  of  the  transitional  forms  may  be  grouped 
under  more  than  one  of  these  heads.  Other  patterns, 
again,  which  are  of  rare  occurrence,  are  not  suitable 
for  inclusion  in  any  of  the  three  groups. 

A  system  of  indexing  based  upon  this  method  of 
classification  was  also  devised  in  which  letters  repre- 
sented the  varieties  of  patterns.  Thus  #,  a,  a  indicate 
that  the  outline  upon  the  fore,  middle  and  ring  fingers 

*  consists  of  arches,  while  a,  w,  I  indicate  an  arch  upon 
jthe   forefinger,  a   whorl  upon  the  middle  finger,  and 

a  loop  upon  the  ring  finger.     The  letters  i  and  o  are 

•  also  used,  the  former  indicating  a  loop  with  an  inward 
|  slope  and  the  latter  one  with  an  outer  slope  upon  the 
forefinger. 

The  possible  variations  in  such  a  classification  of  the 
impressions  of  the  three  fingers  of  the  right  hand 
cannot  exceed  thirty-six,  and  a  thousand  prints  may 
therefore  be  indexed  into  one  of  these  thirty-six 
groups.  Subdivisions  of  these  main  groups  may  then 
be  based  upon  the  characteristics  of  the  prints  of  the 
fingers  of  the  other  hand  and  of  the  thumbs,  while 
differences  in  the  cores  of  the  patterns  afford  a 
means  of  forming  smaller  divisions  of  the  loop 
patterns. 

From  observations  of  the  5,000  prints  of  500  indi- 
Ividuals  Sir  Francis  Galton  found  that  arches  were 
■present  in  6*5  per  cent.  ;  loops  in  67*5  per  cent. ;  and 


66  SCIENCE   AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

whorls  in  26*0  per  cent.  Each  digit  and  hand,  how- 
ever, had  its  own  peculiarities,  and  the  variations 
in  the  percentage  of  arches  upon  different  digits  ranged 
from  1  to  17 ;  that  of  the  loops  from  53  to  90  ;  and 
that  of  the  whorls  from  13  to  45. 

Loops  occurred  with  most  frequency  upon  the 
little  finger  and  then  upon  the  middle  finger,  while 
whorls  were  rarely  met  with  upon  these  fingers,  but 
were  of  common  occurrence  upon  the  thumb  and 
ring  finger. 

The  classification  employed  by  the  English  police 
was  devised  by  Sir  Edward  Henry  and  is  a  modifica- 
tion of  that  of  Sir  Francis  Gait  on,  from  which  it  differs 
in  making  use  of  four  types  instead  of  three.    The 
impressions  are  grouped  into  arches,  loops,   whorls, 
and   composites.     The  last   group   includes   pattern 
made  up  of  combinations  of  the  other  three,  or  thos 
which  might  be  classified  either  as  loops  or  whorl 
There  are  also  numerous  subdivisions  of  the  grou 
into  patterns  with   characteristics  in   common  sue 
as     "  central    pockets "     and     "  accidentals,"     an 
further    differentiation    is   effected   by   counting   the 
number  of  ridges  between  two  fixed  points  in  the 
patterns. 

Examples  of  these  four  groups  are  shown  in  the  plat 
facing  p.  66. 

Dr.  Faulds,  who,  while  at  a  hospital  in  Japan,  made 
an  exhaustive  study  of  the  finger  impressions  of  tb 
Japanese,  appears  to  have  been  the  first  to  sugge 
the  possibility  of  tracing  a  criminal  by  the  imprin 
of  his  fingers  upon  external  objects. 

He  mentions  two  instances  where  the  method  ha 


.  ,3      y  J 


B 


W& 


TYPES    OF    FINGER    PRINTS 


SYSTEMS  OF  IDENTIFICATION  67 

afforded  valuable  evidence,  and  these  are  worth 
recording  as  early  examples  of  the  use  of  the  system 
in  detective  work. 

In  one  case  some  rectified  spirit  had  been  drunk, 
and  the  greasy  marks  of  the  fingers  upon  the  bottle 
plainly  showed  who  was  the  culprit,  for  their  pattern 
was  identical  with  that  of  an  imprint  in  Dr.  Fauld's 
collection. 

On  another  occasion  someone  had  been  suspected 
of  breaking  into  a  house,  but  the  sooty  imprints  of 
fingers  left  upon  the  wall  proved  beyond  all  doubt  that 
this  was  not  the  person. 

The  finger-print  system  of  identification  was  adopted 
by  the  police  in  this  country  in  July,  1901,  and  the' 
numbers  of  identifications  made  since  then  by  the 
police  at  Scotland  Yard  are  very  remarkable.  Up  to 
the  end  of  1901  there  were  93  identifications,  which 
rose  in  the  succeeding  years  to  the  following  numbers  : 
In  1902,  1,722;  in  1903,  3,642;  in  1904,  5,155;  in 
1905,  6,186  ;  in  1906,  6,776  ;  in  1907,  7,701  ;  in  1908, 
9,440  ;   and  in  1909,  9,960. 

There  have  been  some  very  striking  instances  of 
the  detection  of  criminals  by  means  of  their  finger- 
prints, a  few  of  which  may  be  quoted  by  way  of 
illustration. 

On  March  20,  1908,  a  man  named  Chadwick  was 
tried  at  the  Birmingham  Assizes  on  the  charge  of 
housebreaking  and  stealing  at  Edgbaston.  He  had 
left  finger-prints  upon  a  champagne  bottle,  and  when 
these  were  made  clear  by  the  application  of  powdered 
blacklead  they  were  found  to  correspond  exactly 
with    the    finger-prints    of    the    prisoner.     Inspector 


68  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

Collins,  in  giving  evidence  on  this  point,  stated  that 
there  were  a  million  and  a  quarter  classified  finger- 
prints at  Scotland  Yard,  and  that  these  could  all  be 
distinguished  from  one  another.  He  pointed  out  that 
there  were  twelve  ridges  which  were  characteristic 
and  identical  in  the  two  prints. 

Similar  identifications  in  cases  of  burglary  have 
been  made  by  means  of  the  impressions  left  on  a  wax 
candle,  on  windows,  on  paper,  such  as  a  cheque,  or  on 
the  metallic  surface  of  a  cash-box,  etc. 

On  March  11th  of  last  year,  a  labourer  named  George 
Lane  was  put  on  trial  at  Birmingham  on  the  charge 
of  breaking  into  the  house  of  a  bootmaker  and  stealing 
several  articles.  He  had  left  a  thumb-nail  mark 
upon  a  glove-box,  and  evidence  was  given  as  to  the 
identity  of  this  with  his  own  thumb-print.  For  the 
defence  it  was  urged  that  he  was  in  Nottingham  at 
the  time,  and  that  he  could  call  as  a  witness  "  a  tall 
dark  man  working  in  a  bar."  The  judge  offered  to 
postpone  the  trial  for  the  attendance  of  this  witness, 
but  warned  the  prisoner  that  if  his  statement  were 
found  to  be  untrue  he  would  be  prosecuted  for  perjury 
in  addition  to  the  present  charge.  The  prisoner 
thereupon  said  he  preferred  the  trial  not  to  be  delayed. 
He  was  found  guilty,  and  after  evidence  of  previous 
convictions  had  been  given  he  was  sentenced  to  three 
years'  penal  servitude. 

In  April  of  last  year  an  equally  convincing  proof  was 
offered  of  the  value  of  the  finger-print  system,  when 
it  proved  the  identity  of  a  dead  man.  The  scattered 
remains  of  this  man  were  found  upon  the  railway  line 
near  Slough,  and  there  was  no  clue  whatever  as  to  his 


SYSTEMS  OF  IDENTIFICATION  69 

identity.  Upon  the  off-chance  of  the  victim's  finger- 
prints being  known  at  Scotland  Yard  impressions  from 
his  fingers  were  taken  by  the  local  superintendent  of 
the  police  and  forwarded  to  headquarters,  where  on 
reference  to  the  index  of  finger-prints  they  were 
immediately  recognised.  They  were  those  of  a  man 
twenty-four  years  of  age,  who  had  been  living  at 
Deal. 

This  was  noteworthy  as  being  the  first  occasion 
upon  which  the  method  has  been  used  to  discover 
the  identity  of  anyone  after  death. 

A  striking  proof  of  the  value  of  finger-prints  in  the 
identification  of  an  individual  by  the  French  police 
was  afforded  last  year  in  Paris. 

A  man  named  Lemarque,  one  of  a  notorious  gang 
of  thieves,  known  as  Chaff eurs  de  la  Drome,  had 
escaped  when  three  of  his  companions  had  been 
captured.  They  were  tried  at  the  Assize  Court  of 
the  Drome  Department  in  July,  1909,  on  the  charges 
of  murder  and  robbery  and  were  condemned  to  death, 
while  Lemarque  was  sentenced  by  default. 

All  attempts  to  discover  the  missing  man  proved 
fruitless,  until  in  March,  1910,  a  man  was  arrested  for 
theft  at  Nimes.  He  gave  the  name  of  Charles  Gamier, 
but  the  police  suspecting  that  the  description  he  gave 
of  himself  was  false,  took  impressions  of  his  finger- 
prints, and  forwarded  these,  together  with  the  man's 
description  and  photograph,  to  the  Anthropometrical 
Department  of  the  Prefecture  of  Police  in  Paris.  The 
finger-prints  were  immediately  recognised  by  M. 
Bertillon,  and  Charles  Gamier  was  identified  as 
Lemarque,  the  man  who  had  so  long  been  "  wanted." 


CHAPTER  V 

IDENTIFICATION  AND   HANDWRITING 

Heredity — Emotional    Influences — Effects    of    Disease    on 
Handwriting. 

The  identification  of  an  individual  solely  by  means 
of  his  handwriting  is  always  liable  to  lead  to  a  mis- 
carriage of  justice,  for  even  in  the  cases  of  the  closest 
resemblance  between  two  writings  there  can  be  no 
certainty  on  this  point.  In  the  following  pages  I 
have  attempted  to  point  out  under  what  varying  con- 
ditions handwriting  may  show  alterations  and  thus 
lead  to  wrong  conclusions. 

In  the  making  of  handwriting  heredity  plays  a^ 
very  important  part,  just  as  it  does  in  the  character- 
istic gait  and  the  little  mannerisms  which  are  peculiar 
to  each  individual.  In  addition  to  this,  the  writing 
may  be  modified  by  the  results  of  training  and  other 
external  influences. 

It  is  obviously  not  possible  to  determine  from  which 
ancestors  all  the  features  in  one's  handwriting  are 
inherited,  just  as  it  is  impossible  to  trace  the  origin 
of  certain  obviously  inherited  traits  of  character. 
At  the  same  time,  instances  in  which  close  resemblances 
may  be  noticed  between  the  handwriting  of  a  man 
and  that  of  his  father  and  grandfather  will  occur 
to  everyone.  Thus  a  particular  slope  in  the  direction 
of  the  writing  or  a  mode  of  looping  the  letters  or  of 
forming  certain  words  may  be  passed  on  from  generation 
to  generation. 

70 


i 


m 


72  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

A  remarkable  fact  in  this  connection  is  that  there  is 
frequently  a  tendency  for  a  son  to  inherit  certain 
characteristics  in   the   father's   writing   and   for   the*" 
daughters'  writing  to  resemble  more  closely  that  of 
their  mother  than  that  of  their  father. 

The  examples  shown  in  the  figure  illustrate  this 
tendency.  The  words  were  all  written  by  members 
of  one  family,  the  first  two  lines  being  those  of  the 
father  and  the  mother.  The  third,  fifth,  eighth  and 
ninth  lines  were  written  by  their  daughters,  and  the 
fourth,  sixth  and  seventh  lines  by  their  sons. 

It  will  be  noticed  among  other  points  of  resemblance 
that  the  bold  characteristic  looping  of  the  letter  L 
in  the  mother's  handwriting  is  reproduced  more  or 
less  closely  in  the  writing  of  all  the  daughters,  while 
the  sons  form  the  same  letter  with  a  small  loop,  as  in 
the  word  written  by  their  father.  The  angles  at 
which  the  different  words  are  written  also  show  the 
effect  of  this  "  parallel  heredity,"  as  it  might  be  termed. 

While  possessing  such  points  of  resemblance  obvi- 
ously inherited  from  the  parents'  handwriting,  the 
writing  of  each  of  the  children  also  shows  character- 
istics of  its  own  that  distinguish  it  from  the  writings 
of  the  others — characteristics  partly  inherited  from 
other  ancestors  and  partly  the  result  of  environment. 

So  close,  however,  is  the  resemblance  between  the 
handwriting  of  the  father  and  of  the  eldest  son  that 
on  more  than  one  occasion  one  has  been  mistaken  for 
the  other  by  other  members  of  the  family. 

The  normal  handwriting  of  every  individual  is 
affected  by  very  many  external  influences,  the  term 
u  normal  "  being  used  here  to  describe  writing  that  is 


IDENTIFICATION  AND  HANDWRITING   73 

done  when  the  thoughts  of  the  writer  are  being  con- 
centrated upon  what  is  being  written  and  without 
a  mental  side-glance  at  the  form  of  the  writing  itself. 

In  the  latter  case  various  psychological  influences 
cause  the  writing  to  vary  more  or  less..  For  instance, 
the  handwriting  of  an  artist  may  show  marked  varia- 
tions at  different  periods,  especially  in  the  form  of  the 
capital  letters ;  for  the  artist  usually  keeps  before  his 
eye  the  decorative  effect  of  his  letters  and  words, 
and  is  constantly  making  experimental  changes  in 
his  writing. 

In  like  manner,  handwriting  is  often  influenced  to 
a  considerable  extent  by  sub-conscious  memories 
of  the  writing  of  other  people,  especially  of  those 
whom  the  writer  tries  to  imitate  in  other  respects. 
In  some  individuals  this  unintentional  imitation  of 
other  handwriting  is  so  pronounced  that  they  are 
unable  to  answer  any  letter  without  its  characters 
having  some  effect  upon  their  own  writing. 

Conscious  imitation  is  a  still  more  frequent  influ- 
ence upon  the  form  of  writing  and  some  of  its  effects 
may  become  fixed  characteristics. 

Instances  of  this  are  to  be  seen  in  the  "  good  " 
writing  of  the  old-fashioned  writing-master,  whose 
ideal  was  the  copper-plate  engraving  of  the  visiting 
card  with  its  thick  down-stroke  and  thin  up-stroke 
and  absolute  regularity  of  letter ;  in  the  pointed 
Italian  writing,  taught  generally  in  mid-Victorian 
ladies'  schools ;  in  the  Civil  Service  "  hand  "  set  as 
a  standard  for  securing  marks  in  examination  ;  and 
in  modern  commercial  handwriting  now  rapidly  giving 
place  to  the  typewriter. 


74 


SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 


An  instance  which  illustrates  the  manner  in  which 
a  writing-school  will  turn  out  hundreds  of  pupils  all 
writing  in  the  same  manner  is  shown  in  the  accom- 
panying figure,  for  which  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  W.  J. 
Kinsley,  of  New  York.     The  members  of  a  class  in 


0Fi 


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^<Jcf 


^si<?     £&"       ^d- 


-r?^e^n. 


CLs 


CZs 


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^C</       6Z- 


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Influence  of  training  on  handwriting 
Each  of  these  lines  was  written  by  a  different  person 

the  Packhard  Business  School  at  New  York,  numbering 
about  forty  young  men  and  girls  ranging  from  sixteen 
to  twenty  years  of  age,  were  all  told  to  write  the  same 


IDENTIFICATION  AND  HANDWRITING   75 

words:  "This  is  a  specimen  of  my  writing,"  without 
any  directions  being  given  them  and  without  knowing 
for  what  purpose  it  was  wanted.  The  results  obtained, 
some  of  which  are  here  shown,  were  published  in  a 
paper  in  New  York.  The  striking  resemblance  among 
them  all  is  obvious  at  the  first  glance,  and  when  these 
specimens  first  appeared  a  lawyer  wrote  to  the  editor 
complaining  that  an  attempt  had  been  made  to  pass 
off  the  handwriting  of  one  person  as  having  been  done 
by  several. 

The  writing  of  the  writing  school  is  no  more  the 
real  writing  of  the  individual  than  laborious  printing 
in  capitals  would  be. 

Even  when  what  must  be  regarded  as  the  vicious 
style  of  the  writing  school  has  been  so  thoroughly 
acquired  that  the  writer  ceases  to  be  conscious  that  he 
is  copying  a  model,  the  writing  not  infrequently  reverts 
to  a  normal  state  and  will  then  tend  to  show  indications 
of  inherited  traits. 

Under  ordinary  conditions,  where  there  has  been 
no  prolonged  attention  given  to  the  form  of  the 
writing,  as  in  conscious  imitation  or  experimental 
alteration,  and  but  little  unconscious  imitation,  certain 
distinctive  features  may  persist  for  a  very  long  period. 
Thus  the  angle  at  which  the  writing  slopes  may  remain 
practically  the  same  for  years,  or  the  form  of  a 
particular  slope  beneath  a  signature  will  repeat  itself 
almost  exactly  time  after  time,  and  even  the  absence 
of  a  flourish  may  become  a  significant  characteristic. 

Emotional  influences  often  have  an  effect  upon 
handwriting,  though  the  alterations  thus  produced 
are  frequently  only  slight  and  temporary.     Thus  a 


76  SCIENCE  AND   THE  CRIMINAL 

man  weighed  down  by  overwhelming  grief  will  often 
write  in  smaller  characters  than  usual,  while  violent 
anger  will  find  its  expression  in  more  vigorous  cross 
strokes  to  the  "t's,"  heavier  dotting  of  the  "i's," 
and  the  thickness  of  a  flourish  to  a  signature. 
On  the  other  hand,  slight  changes  caused  by  long- 
continued  depression  may  leave  permanent  traces 
upon  the  handwriting. 

A  deeply  interesting  historical  instance  of  this 
tendency  of  handwriting  to  vary  with  the  mood  of 
the  writer  is  to  be  seen  in  the  signatures  of  Napoleon 
at  various  periods  of  his  career.  Several  of  these 
written  on  occasions  calling  forth  widely  differing 
emotions  are  here  reproduced,  and  it  is  not  difficult 
to  discern  in  some  of  them  the  effect  of  emotional 
influence.  Very  striking,  for  instance,  is  the  differ- 
ence between  the  orderly  signature  written  after  the 
victory  at  Austerlitz  and  the  blotted  scrawl  dashed 
off  after  the  defeat  at  Leipzig.  Nor  will  it  escape  notice 
that  nearly  all  the  signatures  written  at  moments 
of  depression  or  failure  have  a  downward  slant,  whereas 
that  of  the  victor  of  Austerlitz  runs  upwards.  A  great 
contrast,  too,  is  shown  between  the  general  features 
of  the  first  three  signatures  penned  in  moments  of 
triumph  or  success,  with  that  written  on  the  retreat 
from  Russia  and  the  still  less  assertive  signature  of 
the  prisoner  of  St.  Helena. 

Instances  of  the  effects  of  passing  emotions  upon 
writing  might  be  multiplied  indefinitely,  but  what 
has  been  said  above  is  sufficient  to  show  that  this 
factor  is  of  importance  in  drawing  any  conclusions 
as  to  the  identity  of  an  individual  from  his  handwriting. 


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15- 

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si 


78  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

If  passing  emotions  can  have  so  great  an  influence 
upon  handwriting,  how  much  greater  must  be  the 
effect  when  the  centre  or  centres  in  the  brain  that 
control  the  writing  mechanism  are  affected  or  destroyed 
by  disease ! 

Among  the  disturbances  of  handwriting  due  to 
defective  control  of  the  muscles  we  may  include  the 

Writers'  Cramp 

so-called  tremor-writing,  which  is  common  in  old  age, 
and  the  writing  of  people  suffering  from  writers'  cramp, 
an  example  of  which  is  shown  in  the  figure. 

Other  forms  of  defective  writing  may  be  the  result 
of  a  paralytic  stroke  affecting  the  writing  centre  of 
the  brain,  which  causes  the  patient  either  to  form  only 
parts  of  letters  or  endlessly  to  repeat  the  same  letter 


frss      ////       //a 

Specimen  of  Agraphia 

under  the  impression  that  sentences  are  being  formed 
while  in  extreme  cases  there  may  be  merely  a  succes 
sion    of    meaningless    strokes    in    place    of    written 
characters. 

The    writing   of   insane    people    almost   invariably 
shows  the  effect  of  mental  disturbance.     In  some  case 


IDENTIFICATION   AND  HANDWRITING   79 

the  form  of  the  letters  is  changed,  but  they  are  still 
used  in  their  right  places.  An  illustration  of  this 
is  given  in  the  accompanying  figure,  which  represents 
the  signatures  of  the  poet  Lenau  before  and  during 
his  insanity. 

Writing  of  Lenau,  the  poet,  before  and  during 
insanity 

In  other  instances  there  is  both  alteration  in  the 
form  of  the  writing  and  paragraphia,  or  the  use  of 
the  wrong  letters.  Thus  Holderlin,  the  German  poet, 
who  became  harmlessly  insane  in  1806  at  the  age  of 
thirty-six,  ever  afterwards  misspelled  his  name  in 
the  manner  here  shown. 


Signature  of  Holderlin  before  and  during  insanity 

A  very  interesting  derangement  of  writing,  which 
is  probably  due  to  the  writing  centre  in  one  hemis- 
phere of  the  brain  becoming  adapted  to  do  the  work 
of  that  in  the  other,  is  that  commonly  known  as  mirror 


80  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

writing.  An  example  of  this  which  came  under  the 
writer's  observation  is  shown  below. 

This  shows  the  ordinary  handwriting  of  a  working 
woman  of  about  sixty-six,  who  for  the  last  three  years 
has  been  paralysed  in  the  right  arm,  and  since  then  has 
produced  mirror  writing  with  her  left  hand. 

The  most  remarkable  instance  of  mirror  writing 
on  record  is  to  be  seen  in  the  last  manuscript  of 
Leonardo  da  Vinci,  known  as  the  Codex  Atlanticus,  in 

Mirror  writing  in  paralysis 

] 

the  library  at  Milan.  Various  speculations  have  been 
made  as  to  why  backward  writing  should  have  been 
employed  here,  but  the  obvious  explanation  may  be 
deduced  from  the  letter  of  a  monk,  Antonio  de  Beatis, 
who,  after  visiting  Leonardo  in  his  retirement  at 
Amboise,  wrote  that  the  artist  would  never  paint  again, 
as  his  right  arm  was  paralysed.  The  manuscript 
was  in  all  probability,  therefore,  written  with  the  left 
hand,  and,  as  frequently  happens  in  such  cases  of 
paralysis,  the  other  hypothetical  writing  centre  was 
brought  into  action  and  mirror  writing  was  produced. 


IDENTIFICATION  AND   HANDWRITING  81 

Of  all  the  temporary  influences  tending  to  modify 
handwriting  none  is  more  remarkable,  or  affords  a 
better  proof  of  the  way  in  which  written  characters 
vary  with  the  condition  of  the  mind  than  the  effect 
of  hypnotic  suggestion. 

The  experiments  of  Professors  Lombroso  and  Richet 
have  proved  that  a  suggested  change  of  personality 
is  accompanied  by  an  appropriate  style  in  the  hand- 
writing of  the  subject.  Thus,  a  young  hysterical  girl 
When  hypnotised  under  the  suggestion  that  she  was  a 
child  wrote  in  childish  characters. 

Still  more  striking  were  their  experiments  upon 
a  young  Austrian  student,  Chiarloni  Clementino,  who 
within  little  more  than  an  hour  was  made  to  assume 
successively  the  characters  of  a  child,  of  Napoleon, 
of  Garibaldi,  of  a  clerk,  and  of  an  old  man  of  ninety. 
He  was  made  to  write  some  words  on  each  of  his 
assumed  characters,  and  the  writings  not  only  differed 
to  a  marked  extent  from  his  normal  handwriting, 
but  also  had  characteristics  suggestive  of  the  type 
of  individual  he  was  temporarily  personating. 

The  results  of  some  of  these  experiments,  which 
the  present  writer  had  the  permission  of  the  late 
Professor  Lombroso  to  reproduce,  are  shown  in  the 
accompanying  figures.  The  normal  writing  of  the 
student  is  represented  below,  while  Fig.  A  (p.  82)  shows 

words  written  under  the  suggestion  that  he  was 
Napoleon,  Fig.  B,  his  writing  as  the  old  man  of  ninety, 
and  Fig.  C  that  done  as  Garibaldi. 

6— (2121) 


A.     As  Napoleon 

•  A.  +~+  •*««     ** '  ^° 

B.     As   an   old  man 

t*f€  * 

C.     As  Garibaldi. 
HYPNOTIC   HANDWRITING 


IDENTIFICATION   AND    HANDWRITING  83 

The  handwritings  of  the  suggested  Napoleon  and 
Garibaldi  were  quite  different  from  the  writing  of  the 
real  individuals,  although  it  is  interesting  to  note 
that  there  is  some  attempt  to  form  the  letters  of 
Garibaldi's  signature  in  the  same  manner  as  in  the 
genuine  signature  here  shown. 


In  a  private  letter  to  the  present  writer  Lombroso 
mentioned  that  it  was  quite  possible  for  the  hypnotised 
student  to  have  been  familiar  with  the  signature  of 
Garibaldi.  Or,  again,  the  hypnotisers  may  have  had 
their  thoughts  upon  the  form  of  the  genuine  signa- 
ture while  the  student  was  writing  the  suggested 
version  of  it. 

It  has  been  observed  by  Dr.  Preyer  that  certain 
individuals,  when  under  hypnotic  influence,  write 
in  a  better  handwriting  than  when  they  are  in  their 
normal  condition,  whereas  in  the  case  of  other  sub- 
jects the  letters  are  childish  and  badly  formed.  It 
is  even  possible  to  make  them  omit  by  suggestion 
particular  letters  from  each  word  they  write,  "  Europe," 
for  instance,  becoming  "  Urop,"  and  so  on,  while  by 
further  suggestion  they  may  be  induced  to  make  use 
again  of  the  missing  letters. 

The  fact  that  handwriting  may  be  completely 
altered  under  the  influence  of  hypnotism  is  not  only 
of  great  scientific  interest,  but  may  also  have  an 
important  bearing  on  the  results  of  legal  cases  in  which 
handwriting  is  concerned. 


84  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

It  was  pointed  out  some  years  ago  by  Dr.  Bianchi 
that  hysterical  women  are  particularly  prone  to  write 
anonymous  letters,  and  it  is  well  known  that  such 
women  are  readily  responsive  to  hypnotic  suggestion. 

Facts  such  as  these  suggest  how  necessary  it  may 
often  be  to  take  into  account  the  possibility  of  hypnotic 
influence  before  deciding  upon  the  authorship  of  a 
given  piece  of  writing. 

The  extent  to  which  a  man  should  be  held  responsible 
for  what  has  been  written  as  the  result  of  hypnotic 
suggestion  from  another  person  will  obviously  depend 
upon  whether  he  was  the  dupe  or  the  willing  instru- 
ment of  the  hypnotiser.  In  any  case  it  may  not  be 
easy  to  prove  that  the  writing  is  his,  for  it  will  probably 
be  very  different  from  his  ordinary  handwriting. 

Hitherto  no  case  of  criminal  libel  involving  such 
delicate  questions  as  these  appears  to  have  come  before 
the  courts,  but  it  is  one  that  might  conceivably  occur 
at  any  time,  and  a  jury  would  then  have  to  decide 
upon  the  responsibility  of  the  writer. 


CHAPTER  VI 

EVIDENCE  AS  TO   HANDWRITING 

Illustrative  Cases — Handwriting  Experts 

At  one  time  the  only  evidence  that  was  allowed  to  be 
given  as  to  handwriting  was  that  of  the  writer  himself, 
or  of  someone  who  had  seen  the  writing  done,  or  was 
well  acquainted  with  the  handwriting  in  question. 

Examples  of  evidence  of  this  kind  are  numerous 
and  occur  in  many  of  the  cases  mentioned  in  other 
parts  of  this  book,  such  as  the  trial  of  Spencer  Cowper 
in  1699,  or  of  that  of  the  Perreaus  in  1775. 

In  the  trial  of  Spencer  Cowper  (1699)  an  important 
part  of  the  defence  was  that  the  girl  had  drowned 
herself  in  a  fit  of  depression,  and  letters  written  by  her 
were  put  forward  to  prove  this  view. 

A  gentleman  named  Marshall  produced  letters  that 
he  had  received  from  her,  and  a  man  named  Beale 
gave  evidence  that  he  believed  it  to  be  in  her  hand- 
writing, having  seen  her  write  and  holding  a  receipt 
of  hers. 

The  jury  declared  they  were  satisfied  with  the  evi- 
dence, but  the  judge  (Baron  Hatsell)  remarked  that 
they  might  ask  the  mother  to  say  whether  it  was  her 
daughter's  handwriting. 

Sarah  Stout's  brother  was  also  questioned. 

Mrs.  Stout. — How  should  I  know  !  I  know  she  was 
no  such  person  ;   her  hand  may  be  counterfeited. 

The  Judge. — But  if  it  were  written  in  her  more  sober 
style,  what  would  you  say  then  ? 

85 


86  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

Mrs.  Stout. — I  shan't  say  it  to  be  her  hand  unless 
I  saw  her  write  it. 

Mr.  Stout. — It  is  like  my  sister's  hand. 

The  Judge. — Do  you  believe  it  to  be  her  hand  ? 

Mr.  Stout. — No,  I  don't  believe  it ;  because  it 
don't  suit  her  character. 

The  judge  in  his  summing  up  remarked  that  if  the 
jury  believed  that  the  letters*  were  in  the  handwriting 
of  Sarah  Stout  there  was  evidence  to  show  that 
although  she  was  a  virtuous  woman  a  distemper  might 
have  turned  her  brains,  and  discomposed  her  mind. 

The  history  of  the  admission  of  expert  evidence 
on  handwriting  in  this  country  is  a  curious  one,  and 
shows  that  opinion  has  long  been  divided  as  to  its 
value. 

In  a  trial  that  took  place  in  1836  a  bank  inspector 
was  put  in  the  box  to  give  an  opinion  as  to  the  genuine- 
ness of  a  signature  and  the  judge  refused  to  admit 
this  as  evidence.  The  point  was  carried  to  the  Court 
of  Appeal,  but  was  still  left  unsettled,  an  equal  number 
of  judges  being  for  and  against  the  admissibility  of 
such  evidence. 

Mr.  Justice  Wills,  in  his  standard  work  on  Circum- 
stantial Evidence,  relates  that  Lord  Denman  pro- 
nounced that  evidence  as  to  handwriting  might  be 
regarded  as  an  expunged  chapter  in  the  book  of 
evidence.  In  spite  of  this  dictum,  however,  the 
evidence  of  the  handwriting  expert  was  made  legal 
in  Civil  Cases  in  1854,  and  eleven  years  later  it  was 
also  legalised  in  Criminal  law. 

Long  before  a  witness  was  permitted  in  this  country 
to  give  his   opinion  upon  writing  which  he  had  not 


EVIDENCE  AS  TO  HANDWRITING        87 

actually  seen  written,  or  with  the  author  of  which  he 
was  unacquainted,  expert  evidence  of  this  kind  was 
admitted  in  the  laws  of  different  countries  in  Europe 
and  in  many  of  the  American  States. 

Handwriting  Experts 

A  good  deal  has  been  heard  of  late  of  the  short- 
comings of  the  handwriting  expert,  and  owing  to  a 
mistaken  idea  as  to  the  nature  of  his  evidence,  the  view 
has  been  strongly  expressed  that  such  evidence  should 
no  longer  be  admissible. 

The  present  feeling  against  evidence  on  hand- 
writing is  partly  due  to  an  exaggerated  importance 
having  frequently  been  attached  to  the  conclusions 
of  the  expert,  so  that  as  soon  as  it  could  be  shown  that 
he  had  made  a  mistake,  no  further  trust  was  to  be 
placed  in  his  opinion  ;  and  partly  to  the  dogmatic 
attitude  of  certain  experts  in  the  past. 

As  Lord  Brampton  pointed  out  in  his  Reminiscences, 
the  judges  in  mid- Victorian  days  were  afraid  to 
trust  their  own  judgment  in  matters  of  handwriting, 
and  powers  almost  occult  were  ascribed  to  the  expert, 
who,  after  all,  only  uses  ordinary  scientific  methods. 

The  true  function  of  the  handwriting  expert  is  to 
act  as  a  sign-post  to  the  jury.  His  observation  has 
been  trained  to  notice  minute  points  of  resemblance 
and  difference,  and  he  is  thus  in  a  position  to  point 
out  in  what  respect  and  to  what  extent  two  hand- 
writings resemble  one  another  or  differ,  and  it  is  then 
for  the  jury  to  draw  their  own  conclusions  from  the 
facts  laid  before  them. 


88  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

It  is  now  no  uncommon  occurrence  for  a  judge  in 
summing  up  a  case  to  the  jury  to  emphasise  the  point 
that  the  evidence  of  the  expert  is  only  a  matter  of 
opinion,  and  that  the  real  decision  rests  with  them. 
In  this  way  it  is  possible  for  the  judge  to  correct  the 
too  decided  statement  of  opinion  which  the  expert 
is  sometimes,  under  stress  of  cross-examination,  forced 
to  give. 

Netherclift,  who  was  the  chief  expert  in  the  days 
when  Lord  Brampton  was  at  the  bar,  had  such  faith 
in  his  methods  that  finally  he  came  to  believe  that 
he  could  never  make  a  mistake. 

This  belief  received  an  amusing  check  in  a  case  in 
which  he  was  under  cross-examination  by  Lord 
Brampton  (then  Mr.  Hawkins). 

Netherclift  had  claimed  that  his  system  gave 
infallible  results,  and  had  further  stated  that  his  son, 
whom  he  had  trained,  made  use  of  the  same  system. 

"  Then,"  said  the  wily  advocate,  "  your  son  working 
on  your  system  is  as  good  as  you  are  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  replied  the  father  with  some  pride  in  his 
voice,  "  he  is." 

"  That  is  to  say,  he,  too,  is  infallible  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  again  replied  the  witness. 

"  Well,  now,  Mr.  Netherclift,  was  there  ever  a  case 
in  which  you  and  your  son  appeared  on  opposite 
sides  ?  " 

Netherclift  tried  to  evade  the  question,  which,  he 
complained,  was  an  unfair  one,  but  on  being  pressed 
was  forced  to  admit  that  on  a  certain  occasion  he  had 
given  evidence  on  one  side  and  his  son  upon  the 
other. 


EVIDENCE  AS  TO  HANDWRITING        89 

Swift  came  the  unanswerable  retort,  "  How  comes 
it  then  that  two  infallibles  appeared  on  opposite 
sides  ?  " 

Netherclift's  dogmatic  manner  rendered  him  pecu- 
liarly liable  to  fall  into  traps  like  this,  and  many  were 
the  occasions  on  which  he  was  found  tripping. 

Readers  of  Lord  Brampton's  book  will  recall  another 
amusing  instance  in  which  the  expert  was  "  put  in 
a  hole  "  by  his  opponent,  who  tells  the  story  in  these 
words  :  "  When  I  rose  to  examine  I  handed  to  the 
expert  six  slips  of  paper,  each  of  which  was  written 
in  a  different  kind  of  handwriting. 

"  Netherclift  took  out  his  large  pair  of  spectacles, 
magnifiers,  which  he  always  carried.  Then  he  began 
to  polish  them  with  a  great  deal  of  care,  saying  as  he 
performed  that  operation,  '  I  see,  Mr.  Hawkins,  what 
you  are  going  to  try  to  do — you  want  to  put  me  in  a 
hole.'  *  I  do,  Mr.  Netherclift,  and  if  you  are  ready 
for  the  hole,  tell  me — were  those  six  pieces  of  paper 
written  by  one  hand  about  the  same  time  ?  ' 

"  He  examined  them  carefully,  and  after  a  consider- 
able time,  answered  :  '  No ;  they  were  written  at 
different  times,  and  by  different  hands.' 

"  *  By  different  persons,  do  you  say  ?  '  " 

"  '  Yes,   certainly.'  " 

" '  Now,  Mr.  Netherclift,  you  are  in  the  hole  !  I 
wrote  them  myself  this  morning  at  this  desk.'  " 

The  feeling  of  distrust  with  which  the  evidence  of 
the  expert  in  handwriting  is  often  regarded  by  the 
legal  profession  is  illustrated  by  a  capital  story  that 
was  told  recently  by  Sir  Edward  Carson  in  a  letter 
to  the  Times.     An  Irish  counsel  in  a  now  forgotten 


90  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

case  began  his  cross-examination  of  a  handwriting 
expert  with  the  curious  question  — "  Where's  the 
dog?" 

"  What  dog  ?  "  said  the  bewildered  witness. 

"  The  dog  which  the  judge  at  the  last  assizes  said 
he  would  not  hang  upon  your  evidence." 

How  closely  two  distinct  handwritings  may  resemble 
one  another  was  shown  in  a  celebrated  case  in  which 
handwriting  experts  were  proved  to  be  utterly  mis- 
taken. This  was  the  trial  of  Sir  Francis  Truscott, 
a  former  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  at  the  Old  Bailey  in 
1879. 

It  was  asserted  that  the  defendant  had  sent  a  post 
card  to  a  friend  named  John  Kearns,  who  had  at  one 
time  served  with  him  upon  the  City  Council,  accusing 
him  of  a  criminal  offence  and  warning  him  that  he 
was  being  watched  by  the  police. 

At  the  trial  evidence  was  given  in  the  most  positive 
manner  by  a  lady  who  was  acquainted  with  Sir  Francis 
Truscott  to  the  effect  that  the  moment  she  had  been 
shown  the  card  she  had  recognised  the  writing  as  his. 

This  opinion  was  supported  by  Charles  Chabot,  an 
expert  in  handwriting,  who  stated  in  the  witness-box 
that  he  was  certain  that  the  writing  on  the  post  card 
had  been  done  by  the  same  individual  who  had  written 
certain  letters  of  the  defendant  which  he  had  examined. 
The  similarities  between  the  two  writings  were,  he 
asserted,  too  close  not  to  have  been  the  work  of  one 
individual. 

Evidence  of  the  same  character  was  then  given  by 
Netherclift,  who  swore  that  from  a  minute  comparison 
of  the  libellous  post  card  with  letters  in  the  admitted 


EVIDENCE  AS  TO  HANDWRITING        91 

writing  of  the  accused  there  could  be  no  doubt  but  that 
they  were  written  by  the  same  person. 

The  defence  was  opened  by  a  witness  named  Smith 
being  put  in  the  box.  He  stated  that  he  knew  both 
Mr.  Kearns  and  Sir  Francis  Truscott,  and  was  aware 
that  the  friendship  between  them  had  ceased.  He 
was  then  shown  the  post  card  and  asked  whose  was  the 
handwriting  upon  it. 

"  I  wrote  the  post  card,"  he  said.  "  It  is  my  own 
writing." 

Answering  further  questions,  this  witness  stated 
that  he  had  been  abroad  when  the  charge  was  brought 
against  Sir  Francis  Truscott,  and  that  as  soon  as  he 
learned  what  had  happened  he  had  made  an  affidavit 
that  the  writing  was  his. 

The  father  of  this  witness  produced  post  cards 
written  by  his  son  and  stated  that  the  libellous  post 
card  was  in  the  handwriting  of  his  son  and  not  in  that 
of  Sir  Francis.  Evidence  was  also  given  by  another 
witness  who  knew  both  Sir  Francis  and  Mr.  Smith, 
and  who  had  no  doubt  but  that  the  post  card  was  in 
the  handwriting  of  the  latter. 

At  this  stage  the  jury  intimated  that  they  had  heard 
sufficient,  and  brought  in  a  verdict  of  "  Not   guilty." 

Mr.  Justice  Wills  records  a  case  in  which  a  bank 
clerk  being  shown  a  forged  signature  swore  positively 
that  he  had  written  it,  while  he  was  doubtful  as  to  the 
authenticity  of  signatures  that  were  undoubtedly  his. 

Another  instance  of  the  way  in  which  writing  may 
be  so  skilfully  imitated  as  to  deceive  even  the  man 
whose  writing  it  purports  to  be  is  afforded  by  the  trial  of 
a  solicitor  named  Shaw  at  the  Derby  Assizes  in  1861. 


92  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

He  was  accused  of  having  forged  a  mortgage,  and 
at  the  trial  a  client  of  his  named  Abel  went  into  the 
witness-box  and  in  all  good  faith  swore  that  his  genuine 
signature  upon  a  document  was  not  his,  while  he 
recognised  the  forged  signature  as  his  genuine  writing. 

It  was  proved  conclusively,  however,  at  a  subse- 
quent action  that  was  brought  three  years  later,  in 
connection  with  the  forged  deed,  that  Abel's  signature 
upon  it  had  been  forged,  and  the  convicted  solicitor 
was  brought  into  court  to  give  evidence  that  he  had 
himself  signed  the  document. 

Another  curious  example,  also  cited  by  Wills,  of 
the  uncertainty  of  evidence  as  to  writing  was  that  of 
a  trial  in  which  a  deed  that  was  produced  bore  the 
signature  of  Lord  Eldon.  The  solicitor  in  the  case 
had  no  doubt  as  to  this  being  a  genuine  document, 
and  yet  it  was  positively  stated  by  Lord  Eldon  that 
he  had  never  witnessed  any  document  in  his  life. 

The  cases  of  wrong  conclusions  as  to  handwriting 
have  been  as  numerous  as  those  of  mistaken  identity 
of  person,  and  have  had  as  tragic  consequences. 

The  notorious  case  of  Beck  will  occur  to  everyone 
as  an  instance  of  a  man  being  not  only  wrongly 
identified,  but  of  being  also  the  unfortunate  possessor 
of  a  handwriting  that  had  a  close  resemblance  to  the 
writing  of  someone  else. 

The  two  false  identifications  combined  were  sufficient 
to  send  an  innocent  man  to  prison,  and  it  was  long  before 
it  was  established  that  the  witnesses  upon  whose 
evidence  he  had  been  convicted  had  been  utterly 
mistaken  both  with  regard  to  his  identity  and  his 
handwriting. 


CHAPTER  VII 

FORGED   DOCUMENTS 

Use  of  Microscope — Erasures — Photographic  Methods — Type- 
written Matter — Examinations  of  Charred  Fragments — 
Forgery  of  Bank  Notes. 

The  most  valuable  methods  of  detecting  forgery- 
have  been  based  upon  the  use  of  the  microscope,  which 
will  frequently  reveal  alterations  that  are  quite 
invisible  to  the  naked  eye. 

For  instance,  a  letter  may  have  been  so  carefully 
erased  as  to  defy  detection  by  ordinary  examination, 
but  a  microscopical  examination  will  show  the  slightly 
roughened  surface  of  the  paper,  where  the  fibres  have 
been  disturbed  in  the  process  of  erasure.  A  notable 
example  of  this  was  seen  in  the  Whalley  will  case,  an 
account  of  which  is  given  on  a  later  page,  and  numerous 
instances  of  the  same  kind  have  come  under  the  direct 
observation  of  the  present  writer. 

In  one  of  these  cases,  which  was  settled  before  it 
reached  the  courts,  a  letter  which  was  to  be  put  in 
evidence  in  a  dispute  as  to  some  property  had  origin- 
ally contained  the  words  "  your  house,"  but  the  "  y  " 
had  been  skilfully  erased,  so  that  the  words  read 
"  our  house." 

When  the  paper  was  held  to  the  light  it  showed  an 
almost  imperceptible  thinness  at  that  place,  but  under 
the  microscope  the  ruffled  fibres  on  the  surface  of  the 
paper  where  the  sizing  had  been  scratched  off,  were 
very  noticeable. 

93 


94  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

Skilful  forgers  guard  against  this  obvious  sign  of 
alteration  by  treating  the  erased  place  with  a  solution 
of  rosin  in  spirit,  which  leaves  a  fine  shiny  layer  upon 
the  paper  similar  to  that  of  the  original  sizing. 

A  treatment  first  with  hot  water  and  then  with 
alcohol  will  remove  this  coating  of  glue  or  rosin,  and 
when  the  paper  has  been  dried  again  it  will  be  found 
that  this  part,  which  will  now  be  free  from  its  pro- 
tective layer,  will  absorb  a  drop  of  water  more  rapidly 
than  the  rest  of  the  surface. 

Another  simple  test  to  reveal  erasure  is  the  use 
of  iodine  vapour,  which  will  often  cause  a  blue  colora- 
tion (due  to  starch)  upon  the  moistened  surface  from 
which  sizing  has  been  removed,  but  will  only  colour 
the  remainder  of  the  paper  brown. 

This  test  gave  a  very  pronounced  result  in  the 
examination  of  the  letter  to  which  reference  has  been 
made,  in  which  erasure  of  the  letter  "  y  "  had  been 
suspected  from  the  general  appearance  and  micro- 
scopical   examination  of    the  surface   of  the   papei 

The  course  of  the  tests  described  above  should 
followed    under    the    microscope,    although   in    soi 
instances  the  fraud  is  so  extensive  as  not  to  requii 
any  magnification.     As  a  rule,  however,  it  is  prefei 
able  to  use  only  one  drop  of  a  reagent,  and  to  follow 
closely  under  a  low  power  of  the  microscope,  its  action, 
both  upon  the  material  of  paper  and  upon  the  ink  of 
any  writing,  which  it  may  render  visible. 

The  detection  of  mechanical  erasure,  which  as  was 
mentioned  above,  is  frequently  indicated  by  the 
paper  being  thinner  and  more  transparent  at  that 
place,  is  often  rendered  more  certain  by  photography. 


i 


FORGED  DOCUMENTS  95 

Thus  if  the  document  on  which  was  the  suspected 
erasure  is  placed  between  a  strong  light  and  the 
camera,  the  negative  will  show  a  darker  area  corre- 
sponding to  the  place  where  more  light  was  transmitted 
through  the  paper. 

A  photograph  taken  in  direct  light  would  probably 
in  such  a  case  show  nothing,  but  in  a  negative  taken 
with  the  light  falling  obliquely  upon  the  paper,  the 
fibres  that  had  been  roughened  by  the  erasure  would 
be  visible,  unless  a  subsequent  treatment  with  glue 
or  rosin  had  been  used  to  conceal  the  injury  to  the 
surface. 

Ink  applied  to  the  surface  of  paper  from  which 
the  sizing  has  been  removed  will  show  more  or  less 
tendency  to  spread,  as  upon  blotting  paper,  and 
although  this  may  be  so  slight  as  to  escape  the  notice 
of  the  naked  eye,  it  will  be  plainly  visible  under  the 
microscope,  and  on  a  photographic  enlargement  the 
rough  edges  of  the  marks  will  be  very  pronounced. 

Every  little  fault  or  attempt  at  touching  up  will 
be  brought  into  prominence,  and  in  cases  where 
writing  has  been  removed  by  the  use  of  chemical 
reagents  the  slight  yellow  stain  which  is  frequently 
formed  upon  the  paper — a  stain  so  trifling  that  it 
would  not  ordinarily  attract  notice — will  appear  as 
a  dark  blotch  upon  a  photographic  reproduction. 
It  has  frequently  been  claimed  that  it  is  possible  to 
distinguish  between  different  kinds  of  ink  by  means 
of  photography.  Since  inks  contain  provisional 
colouring  matters  which  cause  the  dried  pigment  upon 
the  paper  while  apparently  black  to  be  in  reality 
red-black,  blue-black,  etc.,  it  was  asserted  that  such 


! 


96  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

differences  would  be  made  manifest  in  photographs 
taken  on  an  ordinary  plate,  and  still  more  by  the 
use  of  colour-sensitive  plates. 

The  present  writer,  however,  has  been  unable  to 
confirm  these  statements.  It  is  true  that  differences 
in  intensity  appear  upon  the  negative,  but  these  are 
not  any  more  pronounced  than  the  differences  obvious 
to  the  eye  in  the  writing,  and  the  use  of  special  plates 
and .  screens  does  not  give  any  more  satisfactory 
results. 

The  chief  use  of  the  photographic  methods  is  to 
distinguish  differences  in  form  rather  than  in  colour, 
and  to  record  them  for  purposes  of  demonstration. 

One  direction  in  which  photography  is  particu- 
larly useful  is  in  deciphering  the  words  in  faded  ink 
upon  old  documents,  for  the  yellow  colour  of  the 
ancient  vellum  is  due  to  the  formation  of  iron  oxide. 

Of  recent  years  photography  has  supplied  another 
valuable   means   of    detecting     alterations  in    docu- 
ments, and  it  has  been  found  particularly  useful  fo: 
demonstrating  to   a  judge  and  jury  the  results  of 
microscopical  examination. 

Photographic  reproduction  and  enlargement  h 
the  advantage  over  chemical  methods  of  not  produci 
any  alteration  in  the  ink  or  paper,  and  in  some  instance3 
is  just  as  effective  as  the  latter.  In  the  examination 
of  wills,  for  instance,  it  is  necessary  to  obtain  the 
express  permission  of  the  President  of  the  Probate 
Court,  before  any  chemical  tests  may  be  applied  t« 
the  document,  and  except  under  special  circumstances 
such  permission  would  certainly  be  refused. 

All  the  details  of  the  writing  and  of  the  texture 


:u- 

; 


FORGED  DOCUMENTS  97 

the  paper  may  be  recorded  by  the  camera,  and  a 
photographic  enlargement  may  then  be  made  to  any 
required  extent,  so  as  to  obtain  what  practically 
amounts  to  a  record  of  the  microscopical  appearance. 
And  the  process  has  the  additional  advantage  over 
microscopical  examination  that  a  large  portion  of  the 
magnified  surface  may  be  examined  at  the  same  time, 
whereas  in  studying  a  document  under  the  microscope, 
the  view  is  restricted  to  a  very  minute  portion  of  the 
surface. 

With  the  more  general  use  of  the  typewriter  it 
became  possible  to  write  libellous  letters  with  much 
less  risk  of  detection  than  in  the  case  of  letters  written 
in  ordinary  pen  and  ink,  for  the  machine  eliminates 
the  personal  characteristics  of  the  writer. 

The  differences  between  various  makes  of  typing 
ink  are  also  less  pronounced  than  the  differences 
between  different  kinds  of  writing  ink,  and  the  proof 
of  the  identical  character  of  two  inks  has,  therefore, 
usually  less  significance. 

There  are,  however,  certain  typewriting  inks,  which 
are  characteristic  from  the  fact  that  they  contain  finely- 
divided  carbon,  and  are,  therefore,  unlike  most  typing 
inks,  exceedingly  permanent,  and  it  is  also  possible 
to  distinguish  between  the  more  common  violet 
aniline  inks  by  the  different  degrees  of  resistance 
that  they  offer  to  bleaching  reagents. 

Although  it  is  not  possible  to  identify  the  writer 
of  a  typed  document  by  a  study  of  the  typing  it  is 
frequently  not  a  difficult  matter  with  the  aid  of  the 
microscope  to  identify  the  machine  upon  which  it 
was  written. 

7—(2I2l) 


98  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

The  principle  underlying  such  identification  is  that 
the  letters  upon  a  new  typewriter  are  arranged  at 
very  nearly  equal  spaces  from  each  other  and  produce 
a  fully  horizontal  line  of  writing.  But  after  being 
in  use  for  a  very  short  period  some  of  the  letters  are 
certain  to  get  out  of  alignment,  and  to  give  faults 
in  their  relative  position,  which  are  usually  reproduced 
every  time  those  letters  are  struck.  Thus,  for  instance, 
an  a  "  may  be  a  little  above  the  line  and  an  "  r  "  fall 
too  much  to  the  right,  and  these  peculiarities  will 
almost  invariably  recur  throughout  every  scrap  of 
writing  done  upon  that  machine,  until  the  alignment 
has  been  adjusted.  In  no  two  machines  are  exactly 
the  same  variations  in  the  relative  positions  of  the 
different  letters  likely  to  occur.  The  chances  of  this 
happening  is  exceedingly  remote,  for  there  are  some 
seventy  letters  and  signs  upon  a  typewriter. 

A  practical  illustration  of  the  value  of  the  evideno 
thus  afforded,  was  seen  in  a  case  that  occurred  abou 
a  year  ago.  It  was  suspected  that  a  letter  had  beei 
written  in  collusion  with  a  clerk  in  a  certain  office, 
and  proof  of  this  was  thought  likely  to  have  considerable 
influence  upon  the  issue  of  the  trial. 

When  this  letter,  which  was  in  typewriting,  was 
compared  with  another  letter  that  had  unquestionably 
been  written  in  that  office  it  was  found  that  the  faults 
of  alignment  in  both  were  identical.  Wherever  2 
letter,  or  combination  of  letters,  in  the  one  fell  above 
or  below  the  line,  the  same  thing  occurred  in  the  other 
and  wherever  there  was  unequal  spacing  between  two 
letters  the  distances  were  invariably  equal  in  both  cases. 

In    addition   to  this,   the   ink,   which   was  of   tb 


FORGED  DOCUMENTS  99 

violet  type,  contained  the  same  pigment,  and  the 
watermarks  on  the  two  sheets  of  paper  were  the  same. 

There  could,  therefore,  be  no  reasonable  doubt  as 
to  the  two  letters  having  been  written  upon  the  same 
machine.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  proof  of  collusion 
did  not  carry  the  weight  that  had  been  expected,  for 
the  case  was  decided  upon  issues  that  were  not  affected 
by  such  proof. 

With  the  aid  of  a  measuring-scale  upon  the  eye- 
piece of  the  microscope  it  is  possible  to  measure  the 
thickness  of  strokes  of  writing  only  ten  thousands  of 
an  inch  across,  and  in  some  cases  to  prove  in  this  way 
that  a  certain  part  of  a  document  was  written  at  a 
different  time  or  with  a  different  pen  than  the  remainder 
of  the  writing. 

In  attempting  to  reproduce  a  signature  a  forger  will 
probably  make  a  preliminary  outline  with  a  blacklead 
pencil  and  then  go  over  this  with  ink. 

The  imperfect  removal  of  the  pencil  marks  may 
then  betray  the  fraud,  as  in  the  Whalley  will  case 
described  on  another  page.  In  some  instances  the 
particles  of  the  graphite  may  be  seen  with  the  aid  of 
the  microscope  to  project  beyond  the  upper  layer  of 
ink. 

Additions  and  alterations  made  to  the  letters  in 
writing  are  clearly  visible  when  magnified,  and  may 
be  demonstrated  in  court  by  means  of  a  photographic 
enlargement.  Any  irregularities  in  the  edges  of  the 
letters  or  any  break  between  one  part  of  a  letter  and 
another  appear  much  more  pronounced  when  examined 
in  this  way,  for  all  faults  are  enormously  intensified. 
Thus  the  figure  "  0  "  might  be  altered  into  "  9  "  by 


100         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

the  addition  of  a  stroke,  or  a  "  3  "  turned  into  an  "  8,' 
but  it  would  be  practically  impossible  to  do  this  in 
such  a  manner  as  not  to  show  when  slightly  magnified. 

The  accompanying  illustrations,  for  which  the 
writer  is  indebted  to  Mr.  A.  S.  Osborn  and  the  pro- 
prietors of  Knowledge,  will  make  these  points  clearer. 
In  Fig.  A  is  shown  the  result  of  an  attempt  to  change 
the  number  "  11  "  into  "  17"  by  the  addition  of  a 
stroke  to  the  top  of  the  second  "  1."  The  small 
inset  represents  the  appearance  of  the  fraudulent 
alteration,  while  beneath  it  is  seen  the  microscopical 
enlargement,  in  which  the  joining  of  the  added  portion 
is  plainly  visible. 

Occasionally  it  happens  in  fraudulent  alteration  of 
writing  that  a  stroke  or  part  of  a  letter  may  touch 
some  of  the  original  writing,  and  betray  itself  by 
being  above  instead  of  below  the  older  letter. 

Thus  in  Fig.  B  the  words  "  in  full  to  date  "  wen 
added  to  the  receipt  after  the  signature  had  beer 
put,  and  it  will  be  noticed  in  the  enlargement  of  the 
cross  stroke  of  the  "  t  "  in  "  date  "  and  the  top  of  the 
capital  "  C  "  in  the  signature  (Fig.  C),  that  the  allegec 
older  writing  comes  uppermost.  The  point  at  issut 
in  this  dispute  was  whether  the  receipt  referred  to 
whole  sum  or  only  to  a  payment  on  account. 

The  writer  in  the  course  of  his  experience  has 
seen  many  similar  fraudulent  alterations,  but  hasnevei 
met  with  a  case  like  that  described  by  Mr.  Osborn, 
where  the  perforations  which  are  in  common  use  as 
a  means  of  preventing  fraud  had  been  carefully  fillet 
in,  and  new  perforations  made.  Fig.  D  shows  thai 
a  fraud  of  this  kind  may  be  detected  with  certaint] 


:•: ;    •*•?••  J  •? 


ALTERED    NUMBER 


••* 


#•;•:• 


•   m 


ALTERED    PERFORATION 
Detection  of  Forgery  by  means  of  the  Camera  and  the 
Microscope 
By  kind  permission  of  "Knowledge" 


FORGED  DOCUMENTS  101 

by  the  aid  of  the  microscope,  the  edges  of  the  original 
perforations  appearing  as  rings  of  a  lighter  hue. 

The  subsequent  addition  of  writing  to  a  document 
was  in  one  instance  detected  by  the  fact  that  the 
paper  had  been  folded  before  the  later  writing  was 
introduced,  and  in  the  crease  thus  formed  the  sizing 
on  the  surface  of  the  paper  had  become  worn,  leaving 
the  fibres  more  porous.  Here  the  ink  had  shown  a. 
tendency  to  become  diffused,  and  the  blurred  edges 
of  the  lines  thus  produced  were  very  manifest. 

Even  where  paper  has  been  so  completely  charred 
that  no  signs  of  writing  remain  visible,  it  is  frequently 
possible  to  render  the  characters  visible  once  more 
by  continuing  the  incineration  until  only  a  white 
structure  of  ash  remains. 

When  the  writing  was  originally  in  ink  the  charac- 
ters will  usually  appear  in  reddish-brown  marks  (due 
to  the  iron  in  the  ink)  upon  the  white  background 
of  ash.  In  the  case  of  inks  that  do  not  contain 
iron,  or  when  the  writing  was  in  carbon  or  aniline 
typing  ink,  this  method  of  incineration  will  prove 
unsuccessful. 

Writing  that  has  been  done  with  an  ordinary  lead 
pencil  can  usually  be  rendered  visible  by  carefully 
regulating  the  heat  during  the  incineration,  so  as  not 
to  burn  away  the  graphite.  Marks  done  with  a  red 
pencil  are,  as  a  rule,  burned  away  with  the  paper,  but 
blue  pencil  marks  usually  persist  owing  to  the  presence 
| of  an  iron  compound  in  the  pigment. 

In  the  case  of  printing  inks  it  is  rarely  possible  to 
jrender  the  characters  visible  again,  except  when,  as 
in  blue  printing  ink,  some  iron  pigment  was  present. 


102         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

The  limits  of  this  method  of  reading  writing  upon 
charred  paper  have  recently  been  investigated  by 
Habermann,  who  finds  that  a  main  essential  for  the 
successful  working  of  the  process  is  that  the  paper 
itself  shall  yield  a  coherent  white  ash.  In  the  case  of 
common  varieties  of  paper,  especially  printing  paper, 
which  are  loaded  with  china  clay  and  other  mineral 
matter,  this  condition  is  admirably  fulfilled. 

With  pure  rag  papers,  however,  the  ash  is  much 
less  coherent  and  is  too  small  in  quantity  to  leave  a 
background.  Even  in  such  cases  it  is  possible  to 
increase  the  amount  and  coherence  of  the  ash  by 
painting  the  reverse  side  of  the  charred  paper  with  a 
solution  of  a  mineral  fixative  agent,  such  as  aluminium 
acetate.  On  now  drying  the  paper  and  continuing 
the  ignition  the  added  substance  leaves  its  own  white 
ash  which  binds  together  the  ash  of  the  paper. 

The  fragments  of  white  ash  upon  which  writing 
has  been  made  visible  will  obviously  be  extremely 
fragile,  but  they  may  be  rendered  firm  enough  to 
handle  by  applying  a  solution  of  collodion  to  the 
reverse  side,  which  on  evaporation  leaves  a  layer  oi 
nitro-cellulose  similar  to  that  with  which  incandescent 
gas  mantles  are  coated. 

Any  shrinkage  or  distortion  of  the  letters  in  the 
writing  caused  by  the  contraction  of  the  ash  of  the 
paper  during  the  incineration  is  obviated  or  minimisec 
by  burning  the  carbonised  paper  very  slowly. 

A  record  of  the  revivified  writing  may  also  be  made 
by  means  of  photography. 

The  one  pound  notes  issued  by  the  Bank  of  Englan< 
until  as  late  as  1826,  appear  to  have  afforded  peculi; 


A    FORGED    RECEIPT 


PORTION    OF   THE    SAME 
By  kind  permission  of  "  Knowledge  " 


TESTS  TO  DISTINGUISH  OLD  FROM  NEW  INKS 
(SEE    PAGE    110) 


FORGED  DOCUMENTS  103 

temptations  to  forgery,  judging  by  the  number  of 
persons  convicted  of  the  offence. 

The  statistics  on  this  point  are  very  remarkable. 
Between  the  years  1797  and  1811,  471  people  were 
convicted  of  uttering  the  notes  or  having  them  in  their 
possession. 

In  1814,  the  number  of  fraudulent  one  pound  notes 
detected  was  10,342;  in  1815,  14,085;  in  1816, 
21,860;  in  1817,  21,241  ;  and  during  the  first  three 
months  of  1818,  8,937. 

The  ease  with  which  the  notes  could  be  imitated, 
and  the  readiness  with  which  they  could  be  circulated, 
caused  hundreds  of  people  to  take  up  the  trade  of 
forgery,  until  at  length  whole  days  were  occupied 
at  the  Old  Bailey  with  the  endless  trials  and 
convictions. 

Much  indignation  was  expressed  in  the  newspapers 
that  the  Bank  had  not  issued  notes  which  could  not 
be  imitated,  and  as  a  result  of  this  outcry,  a  committee 
of  scientific  men  was  appointed  to  examine  and  report 
upon  the  best  means  of  checking  the  evil. 

Their  report  stated  that  they  had  examined  many 
specimens  of  engraving,  but  none  that  had  been  sub- 
mitted -to  them  was  proof  against  skilful  imitation. 
Most  of  the  forged  notes  had  been  clumsily  imitated, 
and  from  this  it  appeared  that  the  public  were  quite 
ready  to  be  deceived  by  them. 

It  was  commonly  believed,  though  without  founda- 
tion, that  the  Bank  placed  a  private  mark  upon  their 
notes  by  which  they  could  subsequently  be  identified. 

The  general  dissatisfaction  with  the  behaviour  of 
the  Bank  authorities  was  intensified  by  the  amount 


104         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

of  public  money  that  was  spent  in  the  prosecution  of 
the  forgers,  and  the  view  was  freely  expressed  that  the 
Bank  had  no  right  to  assume  the  office  of  prosecutor. 

In  the  year  1818,  for  instance,  there  were  242 
prosecutions,  the  cost  of  which  was  £34,357. 

So  pronounced  became  public  opinion  upon  the 
subject  that  the  Bank  was  forced  to  allow  the  culprits 
to  plead  guilty  to  a  minor  charge,  the  penalty  for  which 
was  transportation  instead  of  death. 

This  became  almost  a  necessity,  since  there  were 
frequently  batches  of  twenty  or  thirty  convicted 
forgers  awaiting  execution,  though  the  death  penalty 
was  only  exacted  in  a  relatively  small  proportion  of 
the  cases. 

During  the  seven  years  ending  1825  there  were 
78,918  males  and  14,800  females  tried  on  the  charge 
of  forging  these  notes.  Of  these  prisoners,  17,874 
were  acquitted,  while  out  of  the  remaining  75,844 
sentence  of  death  was  passed  upon  7,770,  though  not 
more  than  579  of  these  were  executed.  Even  this 
small  proportion  gave  the  terrible  yearly  average  of 
eighty-three  executions. 

As  it  was  at  that  time  impossible  to  stop  these 
wholesale  forgeries  the  abolition  of  the  issue  of  one 
pound  notes,  which  took  place  in  1826,  was  obviousl] 
the  only  solution  of  the  difficulty. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

DISTINGUISHING   INKS   IN   HANDWRITING 

Elizabethan  Ink — Milton's  Bible — Age  of  Inks — Carbon  Inks 
— Herculaneum  MSS. — Forgery  of  Ancient  Documents. 

In  order  to  make  clear  the  principles  upon  which  are 
based  the  methods  of  distinguishing  between  different 
kinds  of  ink  in  handwriting  it  is  necessary  to  give  some 
account  of  the  nature  of  ink. 

Ordinary  writing  ink  is  essentially  a  mixture  of  a 
decoction  of  galls  (or  other  substances  containing 
tannin)  with  a  solution  of  copperas,  or  as  it  is  now 
termed,  ferrous  sulphate.  These  substances  combine 
with  one  another  to  form  a  tannate  of  i^on,  which 
gradually  changes  on  exposure  to  the  air  into  another 
iron  tannate,  which  is  insoluble  and  constitutes  the 
black  pigment  of  writing. 

Characters  written  with  a  pure  freshly-prepared 
iron  gall  ink  are  very  faint  in  colour  when  first  applied 
to  the  paper,  and  it  is  only  after  the  air  has  acted 
upon  them  that  they  gradually  become  dark  blue  and 
finally  black. 

In  the  old  type  of  iron-gall  ink,  that  which  was  uni- 
versally employed  down  to  the  early  part  of  last 
century,  inks  were  exposed  to  the  air  or  were  boiled 
in  order  that  the  insoluble  black  pigment  might  form 
within  the  liquid,  and  thus  give  some  colour  to  the 
ink  when  it  was  first  put  upon  paper.  The  objection 
to  this  is  that  ink  thus  prepared  is  liable  to  clog  the 

105 


s 


106         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

pen  and  not  to  penetrate  properly  into  the  fibres  of 
the  paper. 

In  the  modern  type  of  inks,  therefore,  which  are 
commonly  known  as  "  blue-black  "  inks,  this  method 
of  partial  oxidation  is  not  employed,  but  a  colouring 
matter  is  added  instead,  so  that  the  writing  has  some 
colour  immediately,  pending  the  formation  of  the 
black  pigment  within  the  fibres  of  the  paper. 

The  nature  of  this  provisional  colouring  matter 
varies  in  different  inks,  and  no  two  manufacturers 
appear  to  use  the  same  substance  for  this  purpose. 
In  some  inks  indigo  is  employed,  in  others  logwood, 
while  the  introduction  of  aniline  dyestuffs  placed  an 
abundant  choice  of  colouring  matters  at  the  disposal 
of  the  manufacturer. 

In  the  case  of  old  inks  it  would  only  have  been 
possible  to  distinguish  between  writings  done  with 
different  kinds  where  some  mistake  had  been  made 
in  the  preparation  of  the  ink,  and  a  large  excess  of 
iron  or  of  galls  had  been  used. 

The  possibility  of  such  mistakes  occurring,  however, 
will  be  readily  understood  when  it  is  remembered  that 
ink-making  was  formerly  as  much  a  part  of  the  duties 
of  the  housewife  as  the  baking  of  bread  or  the  making 
of  cordials. 

As  writing  was  a  polite  accomplishment  restricted 
to  the  educated  people  of  leisure  the  ink- manufacturer 
could  not  have  existed,  for  there  would  have  been 
no  customers,  and  recipes  for  the  making  of  ink  were 
therefore  handed  down  for  generations. 

A  particularly  interesting  example  of  an  early  domes- 
tic recipe  for  making  ink  is  shown  in  the  accompanying 


DISTINGUISHING   INKS  107 

figure  which  Mr.  G.  Weddell  has  kindly  allowed  to  be 
reproduced.  This  was  taken  from  a  collection  of  old 
family  recipes  dating  back  to  the  early  part  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  including  among  its  odd 
assortment  of  items  directions  for  making  everything 
needed  for  the  household,  from  apple  pasties  to  cures 
for  the  king's  evil.     This  particular  recipe,  which  was 


Elizabethan  domestic  recipe  for  ink 

one  of  several  for  making  ink,  was  probably  written 
towards  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century.  It  gives 
directions  for  soaking  the  galls  in  rain  water  (or  claret, 
or  red  vinegar)  and  boiling  the  liquid,  after  standing 
for  a  few  days,  with  copperas  and  gum.  The  whole 
collection  of  these  recipes,  which  suggest  many  a 
picture  of  the  life  in  an  English  household  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  has  been  published  in  facsimile 
{Arcana  Fairfaxiana  Manuscripta,   1890). 

Ink  made  by  the  rule  of  thumb   methods  of  the 


108         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

housewife  must  have  often  been  very  poor  stuff,  and 
it  is  to  this  cause  that  we  must  attribute  the  want  of 
permanency  of  the  ink  in  some  of  the  relatively  modern 
writing  as  compared  with  that  upon  manuscripts 
centuries  earlier. 

No  more  interesting  illustration  of  the  effect  of  the 
composition  of  old  inks  upon  the  permanency  of 
writing  can  be  found  than  in  the  various  names  written 
in  Milton's  family  Bible,  to  be  seen  in  the  British 
Museum.  It  will  be  noticed  that  all  the  entries  of 
the  births  of  himself  and  the  members  of  his  family 
are  in  the  handwriting  of  Milton,  and  that  with  one 
exception  all  the  inks  are  of  a  good  dark  tone.  The 
exception  is  seen  in  the  entry  relating  to  the  birth  of 
his  daughter  Deborah  "  on  the  2nd  of  May,  being 
Sunday,  somewhat  before  three  of  the  clock  in  the 
morning,  1652."  Here  the  ink  has  faded  to  a  faint 
brown  tint. 

Considerable  variations  are  possible  in  the  pro- 
portions of  galls  and  iron  that  may  be  used  without 
interfering  with  the  blackness  of  the  pigment,  but  a 
deficiency  of  tannin  outside  those  limits  will  cause  the 
writing  to  turn  brown.  A  lack  of  tannin  to  combine 
with  the  excess,  of  iron  present  is  probably  the 
explanation  of  this  faded  entry  in  Milton's  Bible. 

It  is  very  probable,  too,  that  tests  applied  to  the 
freshly-written  entries  would  have  shown  that  the 
ink  in  this  entry  was  of  different  composition  from 
that  of  the  inks  in  the  other  entries. 

Lovibond's  tintometer,  an  instrument  which  enables 
slight  differences  of  colour  to  be  distinguished  more 
accurately  than  is  possible  with  the  naked  eye,  has 


DISTINGUISHING  INKS  109 

been  used  in  matching  the  colour  obtained  in  chemical 
reactions  with  those  given  by  the  colour  scales 
prepared  from  known  or  suspected  inks. 

For  recording  colour,  strips  of  glass  graduated  so 
as  to  form  a  series  of  colour  scales  are  employed  in 
this  instrument,  and  in  this  way  a  note  can  be  taken 
of  any  given  tint. 


The  Tintometer 

The  first  occasion  upon  which  this  instrument  was 
employed  in  criminal  work  was  in  the  Brinkley  poison- 
ing case,  in  which  the  colours  of  the  different  inks  upon 
the  will  and  other  documents  were  examined  by  its 
means. 

The  problem  of  determining  the  age  of  an  ink  in 
writing  is  much  more  difficult  than  that  of  deciding 
whether  two  writings  are  in  the  same  or  in  a  different 
kind  of  ink. 

It  is,  as  a  rule,  possible  to  distinguish,  with  the  aid 


110         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

of  the  microscope  and  tintometer,  between  freshly- 
written  and  old  writing  up  to  about  the  sixth  day, 
after  which  the  black  pigment  has  attained  sufficient 
intensity  to  prevent  further  differentiation  until  after 
the  lapse  of  two  or  three  years  or  more,  when  the 
provisional  pigment  will  have  faded  or  have  become 
fixed  by  the  iron  t annate. 

In  most  cases  the  provisional  pigments  used  offer 
greater  resistance  to  the  action  of  chemicals,  but  are 
infinitely  less  stable  than  the  iron  tannate  when  exposed 
to  the  action  of  light  and  air,  and  eloquent  testimony 
to  this  difference  is  given  by  the  comparison  of  certain 
manuscripts  of  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries  with 
typewritten  matter  in  aniline  ink,  which  has  been 
put  aside  for  a  few  years. 

Thus  it  happens  that  when  characters  written  in 
blue-black  ink  are  kept,  the  blue  pigment  will  gradu- 
ally fade  out,  leaving  the  black  pigment ;  and  when 
this  stage  is  reached  the  ink  in  old  writing  is  readily 
distinguished  from  ink  that  has  been  freshly  put  upoi 
paper. 

Prior  to  this,  however,  the  blue  provisional  colouring 
matter  appears  to  become  enveloped  in  the  particle* 
of  iron  tannate  so  that  it  no  longer  reacts  rapidly  witl 
chemical  reagents. 

Thus,  if  writing  done  within  the  last  year  or  twc 
be  treated  with  acetic  acid  there  is  an  immediate 
diffusion  of  the  blue  pigment,  whereas  in  the  older 
writing,  diffusion,  if  it  occurs  at  all,  is  very  slow  and 
limited  in  extent. 

A  still  more  useful  reagent  for  this  purpose  is  a 
saturated  solution  of  oxalic  acid,  which  causes  the 


DISTINGUISHING  INKS  111 

pigment  of  relatively  fresh  writing  to  give  an  imme- 
diate smudge,  but  has  very  little,  if  any,  effect  on 
writing  six  or  eight  years  old.  The  differences  in  the 
behaviour  of  old  and  relatively  recent  writing  are 
seen  in  the  tests  here  illustrated,  in  which  the  old 
writing  of  1898  was  hardly  affected  by  the  reagents, 
whereas  the  writing  done  in  1908  gave  the  results 
shown. 

Both  writings  were  in  the  same  kind  of  ink  and  the 
tests  were  applied  simultaneously. 

Speaking  generally,  a  writing  done  with  blue-black 
ink  ceases  to  show  such  diffusion  after  five  to  six  years. 
When  slight  diffusion  occurs  in  an  older  ink  it  is  seen 
under  the  microscope  to  differ  in  character  and  only 
to  affect  the  surface  of  the  letters,  whereas  the  diffusion 
in  an  ink  written  within  the  last  two  or  three  years 
affects  the  whole  of  the  pigment  in  the  letters. 

The  first  occasion  on  which  chemical  evidence  as 

to  the  age  of  blue-black  ink  has  been  given  in  the  law 

courts  was  in  the  recent  forgery  case,  in  which  Colonel 

Pilcher  was  accused  of  forging  his  cousin's  will.     This 

will  was  alleged  to  have  been  written  in  1898 ;    and 

assuming  this  to  have  been  the  case,  the  ink  should 

only   have    reacted    very   slowly   with    the    different 

I  reagents  ;  there  should  have  been  little  or  no  diffusion 

j  with  oxalic  acid  ;    and  if  any  slight  diffusion  occurred 

;  it  should  only  have  been  upon  the  surface  of  the  letters. 

The  ink  upon  the  will,  however,  gave  an  immediate 

j  reaction  with  the  different  reagents,  the  blue  pigment 

I  diffused  at  once  with  oxalic  acid,  and  the  diffusion 

j j  extended  throughout  the  whole  of  the  letters.     There 

was  thus  no  doubt  but  that  the  ink  upon  the  will  had 


112         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

been  written  within  the  last  year  or  two — certainly 
within  the  last  six  years. 

Cheques  written  by  the  deceased  lady  during  the 
last  thirteen  years  were  also  subjected  simultaneously 
to  the  same  tests,  and  while  those  written  quite  recently 
gave  an  immediate  diffusion,  the  ink  upon  those 
written  in  1903  showed  only  the  slightest  diffusion 
in  the  heaviest  writing,  and  no  diffusion  at  all  was 
obtained  upon  the  cheques  written  in  1901. 

The  general  adoption  of  blue-black  ink  for  the  old 
iron-gall  ink  has  made  it  a  simple  matter  to  distinguish 
between  old  and  new  writing,  for  it  is  easy  to  differen- 
tiate the  two  kinds  of  ink  by  tests  which  show  the 
presence  of  the  blue  pigment. 

The  test  has  been  found  useful  of  late  in  checking 
the  statements  of  certain  claimants  of  old-age  pensions, 
who,  as  a  proof  of  their  age,  have  pointed  to  the  entries 
of  date  of  their  birth  in  old  family  Bibles. 

In  more  than  one  instance  the  results  of  a  scientific 
examination  of  the  inks  have  failed  to  support  the 
claim,  for  they  have  proved  conclusively  that  the  ink 
was  of  recent  origin. 

It  is  a  simple  matter  to  distinguish  between  the 
ancient  types  of  ink  that  were  in  use  during  the  early 
centuries  of  the  Christian  era  until  they  were  gradually 
replaced  by  iron-gall  inks  and  modern  writing  inks. 
For  the  basis  of  all  these  ancient  inks  is  lampblack, 
or  some  other  form  of  carbon,  which  is  very  resistant 
to  the  action  of  reagents.  It  is  for  this  reason  that 
printing  ink,  the  pigment  of  which  is  carbon,  is  so 
much  more  stable  than  any  ordinary  writing  ink  can 
be.     In  fact,  in  order  to  increase  the  permanence  of 


DISTINGUISHING   INKS  113 

writing  inks  it  has  frequently  been  recommended  to 
add  a  small  amount  of  some  carbon  ink. 

The  most  easily  obtained  preparation  of  the  kind 
is  the  commercial  Indian  or  Chinese  ink,  which  con- 
sists essentially  of  a  mixture  of  glue  with  lampblack 
in  the  finest  possible  state  of  division. 

In  order  to  distinguish  between  a  carbon  ink  of 
this  nature  and  an  ordinary  writing  ink  all  that  is 
necessary  is  to  apply  a  dilute  bleaching  agent.  The 
blue-black  pigment  of  the  writing  ink  will  then  gradu- 
ally disappear,  whereas  the  fine  particles  of  carbon  in 
the  other  ink  will  show  little,  if  any  alteration,  and  may 
still  be  discerned  under  the  microscope  as  minute 
black  granules  resting  upon  the  fibres  of  the  paper. 

It  was  by  a  method  similar  to  this  that  Sir  Humphrey 
Davy  proved  that  the  writing  upon  papyri  found  in 
the  ruins  of  Herculaneum,  which  was  destroyed  in 
a.d.  79,  had  been  done  with  a  carbon  ink,  of  the  same 
nature  as  that  used  by  the  ancient  Egyptians  and  by 
the  Chinese  and  Japanese  at  the  present  day.  On 
none  of  the  Herculaneum  MSS.  could  any  trace  of 
iron  ink  be  detected. 

The  same  tests  may  be  applied  to  determine  whether 
the  writing  upon  a  document  has  been  lithographed 
or  has  been  written  with  ordinary  ink. 

An  amusing  instance  of  the  kind  came  within  the 
present  writer's  experience.  A  sheet  of  paper  upon 
which  was  some  writing  that  was  believed  to  have  been 
written  by  Nelson  had  been  handed  down  in  a  family 
for  several  generations  as  an  heirloom,  and  had  always 
been  looked  upon  as  a  genuine  document.  The  ink 
had  the  faded  yellow  tone  of  old  iron  ink,  and  there 

8— (2121) 


114         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

was  nothing  to  show  that  the  writing  was  not  what  it 
professed  to  be. 

Its  present  owner,  however,  happened  to  notice 
in  a  museum  what  appeared  to  be  a  duplicate  of  the 
manuscript  in  his  possession,  and  when  a  chemical 
test  was  applied  to  the  ink  upon  the  latter  the  pigment 
was  quite  unaffected.  Hence  there  could  be  no  doubt 
as  to  its  being  a  copy  of  the  original  reproduced  by 
lithography. 

Cases  in  which  it  is  necessary  to  distinguish  between 
iron-gall  writing  inks  and  printing  or  other  carbon 
inks  occur  from  time  to  time  in  criminal  investigations. 
As  a  recent  example  a  case  that  was  tried  a  few  months 
ago  may  be  mentioned.  The  chief  clerk  of  a  firm  of 
merchants  had  for  a  considerable  time  been  defrauding 
his  employers,  and  when  suspicion  at  length  fell  upon 
him,  endeavoured  to  conceal  his  doings  by  falsifying 
the  entries  of  previous  years  in  the  ledger. 

In  order  to  do  this  it  was  necessary  to  abstract 
certain  pages  in  a  particular  part  of  the  ledger  and  t< 
substitute   the   necessary   alterations.     Then,    finding 
that  the  ink  of  the  writing  would  appear  too  new,  an< 
thus  invite    inquiry,   he   added    a   small   amount   oi 
Indian  ink   to   an   ordinary  writing  ink,    and    thus 
obtained  a  mixture,  which  gave  an  immediate  effect 
of  age  to  the  writing.     To  the  naked  eye  there  was 
nothing  to  show  that  these  pages  had  not  been  written 
on  the  dates  mentioned  on  them,  three  or  four  years 
previously,  but  on  applying  a  weak  bleaching  agent 
the  fraud  was  at  once  made  obvious.     The  iron-gall 
part  of  the  pigment  faded  away,  but  the  particles 
of  carbon  that  had  formed  the  basis  of  the  Indian  ink 


DISTINGUISHING   INKS  115 

were  left,  and  their  nature  could  easily  be  recognised 
under  the  microscope.  The  entries  on  the  other  pages 
in  the  ledger,  which  had  been  written  in  ordinary 
writing  were  completely  bleached  in  the  test. 

A  very  curious  illustration  of  the  difficulties  that 
beset  the  forger  of  ancient  documents  was  afforded 
by  the  trial  of  Humphreys  in  1839  in  Edinburgh. 

The  prisoner  was  the  claimant  to  the  earldom  of 
Stirling,  and  in  support  of  his  claim  had  produced 
a  number  of  documents  supposed  to  date  back  to 
the  seventeenth  and  early  eighteenth  centuries.  One 
of  these  purported  to  be  a  portion  of  a  charter  granted 
by  King  Charles  I  to  the  first  Earl  of  Stirling  in  1639, 
permitting  the  succession  to  the  earldom  to  descend 
through  the  daughters  of  the  house. 

As  witness  to  this  there  was  appended  the  signature 
of  Archbishop  Spottiswood  described  as  "  our  Chan- 
cellor," whereas  as  a  matter  of  history  the  seal  had  been 
handed  to  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton  a  year  prior  to 
the  date  of  the  pretended  charter.  There  were  also 
various  other  anachronisms  in  the  document,  such  as 
margins  in  red  ink,  which  were  not  used  before  1780. 

Scientific  evidence  was  also  given  that  the  ink  upon 
the  pretended  charter  was  not  old  ink,  but  ink  that  had 
been  treated  in  such  a  manner  as  to  appear  old. 

Similar  inconsistencies  were  shown  in  the  other 
pieces  of  documentary  evidence,  and  scientific  proof 
was  given  that  the  date  upon  an  engraved  map,  upon 
the  back  of  which  were  memoranda  supporting  the 
claimant's  case,  had  been  added  at  a  later  period. 

The  jury  unanimously  found  the  prisoner  guilty 
of  forgery. 


CHAPTER  IX 

TWO   NOTABLE  TRIALS 

Trial  of  Brinkley— Trial  of  Robert  Wood 

The  first  occasion  upon  which  scientific  evidence  as 
to  the  difference  of  blue-black  inks  upon  a  document 
was  given  in  a  court  of  law  in  this  country  was  at  the 
trial  of  Richard  Brinkley  at  the  Guildford  Assizes 
in  July,  1907,  for  the  murder  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Beck. 

Brinkley,  at  the  time  of  his  trial,  was  about  fifty 
years  of  age.  He  was  a  carpenter  by  trade,  but  in 
the  course  of  his  life  had  turned  his  hand  to  many 
occupations,  and  for  many  months  had  been  living 
upon  the  proceeds  of  the  property  which  he  claimed 
to  have  inherited. 

For  some  time  prior  to  her  death  he  had  made 
himself  indispensable  to  an  old  lady  named  Blume, 
and  when,  early  in  1906,  she  died,  he  produced  a  will 
in  which  she  had  left  him  her  house  and  money. 

On  the  strength  of  this  will,  which  he  proved  in  the 
usual  way,  Brinkley  took  possession  of  Mrs.  Blume's 
house,  much  to  the  disgust  of  her  daughter  and  grand- 
daughter, who  had  always  resented  his  influence  over 
the  old  lady.  They  had  no  knowledge  that  anything 
was  wrong  with  the  will,  but  they  determined  to  test 
its  validity,  and  accordingly  a  caveat  was  entered 
against  it. 

Brinkley  had  not  anticipated  that  he  would  have 
to  prove  that  it  was  a  genuine  document,  or  that  he 
would  have  to  depend  upon  the  testimony  of  the  men 

116 


TWO  NOTABLE  TRIALS  117 

whose  signatures  as  witnesses  were  present  upon  the 
will.  He  knew  that  he  could  rely  upon  one  of  his 
witnesses,  a  man  named  Hird,  who  had  drawn  up  the 
will ;  but  the  other  witness,  Parker,  refused  to  perjure 
himself  for  Brinkley' s  benefit.  He  owned  that  he 
had  signed  a  paper  when  he  had  been  out  with  Brinkley, 
but  denied  that  he  had  ever  seen  or  signed  a  will. 

As  Parker's  refusal  to  appear  in  court  meant  that 
the  will  would  be  declared  a  forgery,  Brinkley  decided 
that  he  must  be  cleared  from  his  path. 

He  therefore  obtained  some  prussic  acid  from  a  man 
who  described  himself  as  "a  friend  of  our  dumb 
fellow-creatures,"  alleging  that  he  needed  it  to  kill  a 
dog,  and  this  poison  he  introduced  into  a  bottle  of 
oatmeal  stout,  which  he  took  round  to  Parker's 
lodgings  in  Croydon,  and  placed  in  his  sitting-room. 

Before  Parker  came  home  his  landlady,  Mrs.  Beck, 
went  into  his  room  and  seeing  the  bottle  of  stout 
called  her  husband  and  daughter,  and  they  all  drank 
the  poisoned  beer  that  had  never  been  intended  for 
them.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Beck  died  the  same  night,  and 
their  daughter,  who  had  taken  less  of  the  stout,  was 
very  ill,  though  she  ultimately  recovered. 

Parker  was  immediately  arrested,  but  being  able 
to  prove  his  innocence  was  soon  set  free,  and  suspicion 
then  fell  upon  Brinkley  who,  after  the  coroner's  inquest, 
was  committed  for  trial  on  the  charge  of  murdering 
the  Becks,  the  law  being  that  if  you  deliberately 
intend  to  kill  one  person  and  unintentionally  kill 
another  you  are  none  the  less  guilty  of  murder. 

On  the  way  to  the  police  station,  after  his  arrest, 
Brinkley  made  the  significant  statement :     "  If  anyone 


118         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

says  I  put  poison  in  stout,  he's  got  to  prove  it."  Up 
to  that  moment  there  had  been  no  mention  of  poisoned 
stout. 

At  the  police  court  proceedings  it  was  proved  that 
the  Becks  had  died  from  the  effects  of  prussic  acid, 
that  Brinkley  had  bought  that  poison,  that  he  had 
bought  a  bottle  of  stout  in  West  Croydon,  and  that 
he  had  been  seen  on  the  platform  at  Wandsworth 
waiting  for  the  West  Croydon  train. 

The  motive  of  the  crime  was  an  important  link  in 
the  chain  of  evidence,  but  Brinkley  held  stoutly  to  his 
story  that  the  will  was  signed  by  both  witnesses  in  the 
presence  of  Mrs.  Blume. 

Parker's  version  of  his  signature,  the  authenticity  of 
which  he  did  not  dispute,  was  that  while  he  was  out 
with  Brinkley  one  evening  the  latter  asked  him  to 
sign  his  name  upon  a  paper  petitioning  for  an  outing, 
and  that  they  had  thereupon  turned  into  a  public-house, 
where  he,  Parker,  had  written  his  name  upon  a  sheet 
of  paper,  the  upper  part  of  which  was  folded  over. 

In  order  to  test  the  truth  of  Parker's  statement  the 
bottle  of  ink  was  obtained  from  that  public-house, 
and  he  was  told  to  write  his  name  upon  a  sheet  of 
paper  in  that  ink,  and  this  paper  and  the  original 
will  were  submitted  to  the  present  writer  for 
examination. 

By  the  aid  of  the  methods  described  in  the  preceding 
pages  it  was  found  that  the  ink  of  Parker's  signature 
upon  the  will  and  that  of  the  writing  upon  the  piece 
of  paper  were  of  the  same  kind — an  ink  readily  recog- 
nisable from  its  particularly  brilliant  blue  pigment. 
In  addition  to  this,  three  distinct  kinds  of  ink  were 


TWO  NOTABLE  TRIALS  119 

present  upon  the  will,  the  body  of  the  document  and 
the  signature  of  one  witness  being  in  one  kind  of  ink, 
the  signature  of  the  testatrix  in  another,  and  the 
signature  of  the  other  witness  in  a  third. 

When  the  case  came  on  at  the  Assizes  at  Guildford 
Mr.  R.  D.  Muir  appeared  for  the  prosecution,  while 
the  prisoner  was  very  ably  defended  by  Mr.  Frampton. 
Every  day  the  judge,  counsel  on  both  sides,  the  prisoner, 
and  many  of  the  witnesses  went  down  to  Guildford 
by  a  train  in  the  morning  and  returned  to  London 
again  in  the  evening. 

Each  morning  the  prisoner  when  he  entered  the 
court  appeared  quite  unconcerned,  and  chatted  with 
the  warders.  As  is  so  often  the  case,  he  did  not  seem 
to  realise  the  gravity  of  his  position. 

It  was  shown  in  the  evidence  that  he  had  some 
knowledge  of  poisons,  and  that  he  had  selected  one 
that  would  disappear  more  or  less  rapidly  from  the 
body  after  death.  The  chemical  evidence  as  to  the 
presence  of  prussic  acid  in  the  bodies  was  given  by 
Dr.  Stevenson  and  Mr.  Bodmer,  and  was  not  called 
in  question  by  the  defence. 

Evidence  was  also  given  by  the  writer  with  regard 
to  the  inks  upon  the  will,  and  this,  too,  was  not  dis- 
puted. In  fact,  Brinkley,  who  went  into  the  witness- 
box,  when  asked  how  he  explained  the  fact  of  three 
kinds  of  ink  being  on  the  will  replied  that  Mrs.  Blume 
had  three  different  sorts  in  the  house. 

He  was  then  asked  what  had  become  of  two  of 
them,  since  only  one  bottle  of  ink  was  discovered  when 
the  house  was  searched,  and  to  this  his  answer  was 
that  he  had  given  these  to  a  little  girl. 


120         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

Throughout  the  trial  Brinkley's  explanations  of 
damning  facts  were  never  supported  by  any  evidence, 
while  for  every  statement  of  Parker  there  was  abundant 
corroboration. 

The  scene  in  court  on  the  opening  day  of  the  trial 
will  probably  never  be  forgotten  by  anyone  present. 
A  heavy  thunderstorm  passed  over  Guildford,  and  for 
some  minutes  such  blackness  filled  the  interior  of  the 
hall  where  the  Assizes  were  held  that  it  was  barely 
possible  to  distinguish  the  faces  of  those  who  were 
trying  a  man  for  his  life,  excepting  when  they  were  lit 
up  by  the  vivid  flashes  of  lightning.  Throughout  the 
storm  Mr.  Muir  continued,  in  clear  incisive  tones, 
which  could  be  plainly  heard  across  the  noise  of  the 
thunder,  to  marshal  the  array  of  deadly  facts,  from 
which  there  could  be  no  escape  for  the  prisoner  sitting 
motionless  in  the  dock. 

To  the  journalist  nothing  that  means  "  copy  "  is 
sacred,  and  the  representative  of  one  leading  London 
paper  whispered  to  another  sitting  just  behind  the 
writer,  "  What  a  pity  this  couldn't  happen  while  the 
sentence  of  death  was  being  passed  !  " 

Mr.  Frampton  in  his  speech  for  the  defence  dwelt 
principally  upon  other  possible  explanations  of 
evidence,  which,  as  he  urged,  was  entirely  circum- 
stantial in  character,  but  he  was  unable  to  pro- 
duce any  witnesses  to  support  the  assertions  of 
Brinkley. 

After  a  trial  which  lasted  four  days,  the  judge  (Sir 
John  Bigham)  summed  up,  and  the  jury,  after  a  short 
retirement,  found  the  prisoner  guilty. 

Until  the  end  he  protested  his  innocence. 


I 


TWO  NOTABLE  TRIALS  121 

The  most  sensational  trial  that  has  taken  place 
in  this  country  for  many  years  was  that  of  Robert 
Wood,  a  young  artist,  in  1907,  on  the  charge  of 
murdering  a  woman. 

The  story  of  the  crime  itself  is  a  particularly  sordid 
one,  but  the  behaviour  of  the  prisoner  in  court,  and 
the  excited  state  of  public  feeling  upon  the  subject 
gave  a  profound  psychological  interest  to  the  trial. 

A  woman  had  been  found  brutally  murdered  in  her 
lodgings  in  a  small  house  in  Camden  Town,  and  no 
trace  could  be  found  of  the  murderer. 

In  the  fire-grate,  however,  had  been  found  some 
charred  fragments  of  a  letter,  while  in  the  chest  of 
drawers  a  post  card  that  had  escaped  notice  had  been 
discovered. 

A  reproduction  of  this  post  card  was  posted  up  at 
the  police-stations  and  published  in  the  papers,  and 
was  soon  recognised  by  several  people  as  being  in 
the  handwriting  of  Robert  Wood. 

In  the  meantime,  Wood,  finding  that  suspicion  was 
likely  to  attach  to  him,  persuaded  a  girl  of  his  acquaint- 
ance, named  Ruby  Young,  to  promise  to  support 
his  statement  that  he  had  been  with  her  upon  the 
evening  when  the  murder  took  place. 

A  day  or  two  later  Ruby  Young  became  uneasy 
as  to  the  effect  her  promise  was  likely  to  produce,  and 
asked  the  advice  of  a  journalist  as  to  what  would  be 
the  best  thing  to  do,  putting  the  case  as  a  hypothetical 
one.  The  man,  however,  at  once  saw  to  what  she 
alluded,  and  immediately  telephoned  to  the  police, 
and  this  led  to  the  arrest  of  Robert  Wood. 

At  the  police  court  proceedings  an  expert  opinion 


122         SCIENCE  AND   THE   CRIMINAL 

was  given  that  the  fragments  of  charred  paper  found 
in  the  grate  of  the  dead  woman,  were  in  the  handwriting 
of  Wood,  and  evidence  was  also  given  by  the  present 
writer  that  the  pigment  in  which  the  characters  were 
written  was  identical  with  that  of  a  marking- ink  pencil 
found  upon  the  prisoner. 

For  a  long  time  Wood  denied  that  he  had  had  any- 
thing to  do  with  these  fragments.  Subsequently, 
at  the  beginning  of  the  trial  at  the  Old  Bailey,  he 
admitted  that  he  had  written  them,  though  to  the 
end  he  strenuously  refused  to  admit  that  the  words 
had  the  meaning  which  they  appeared  to  suggest. 

He  denied  that  they  referred  to  any  appointment 
made  with  the  dead  woman  for  the  day  upon  which 
she  was  murdered. 

The  proof  of  the  fact  that  these  bits  of  charred 
paper  had  really  been  written  by  Wood  brought  him 
very  close  to  the  scene  of  the  crime,  and  his  attempt 
to  create  a  false  alibi  and  to  get  Ruby  Young  to  bear 
this  out  still  further  strengthened  the  suspicion  against 
him. 

The  most  telling  evidence,  however,  was  the  state- 
ment of  a  carman,  who  had,  he  asserted,  seen  a  man 
leave  the  house  of  the  murdered  woman  at  five  o'clock 
in  the  morning.  He  had  not  seen  the  face  of  the 
man,  but  had  noticed  that  he  had  a  characteristic 
swinging  walk,  and  when  taken  to  the  police  station 
had  identified  the  prisoner  among  a  number  of  other 
men,  who  had  been  made  to  walk  round  the  yard, 
as  the  man  that  he  had  seen  coming  down  the  steps 
of  the  house. 

Other  evidence  was  given  as  to  Wood's  having  been 


TWO  NOTABLE  TRIALS  123 

seen  in  the  company  of  the  deceased  woman  on  several 
occasions  in  the  past,  although  he  asserted  that  he 
had  only  known  her  a  few  days  and  had  seen  her  only 
once  or  twice.  The  bad  reputation  of  most  of 
.these  witnesses  detracted  from  the  value  of  their 
evidence. 

Mr.  Marshall  Hall,  who  conducted  Wood's  defence, 
made  a  very  brilliant  speech,  in  which  he  laid  stress 
upon  the  weak  points  in  the  case  for  the  prosecution 
— the  evidence  that  had  been  gathered  from  a  tainted 
source,  the  complete  absence  of  any  motive  for  the 
crime,  and  the  fact  that  the  jury  were  trying  the 
prisoner  for  murder  and  not  for  immorality  or 
lying. 

He  urged  that  the  keynote  in  this  case  was  that 
Wood,  who  had  a  great  deal  of  vanity,  could  not  take 
upon  himself  the  responsibility  of  admitting  what 
would  cause  him  to  occupy  a  lower  position  in  the 
estimation  of  those  who  had  given  him  their  undivided 
respect  and  affection. 

What,  he  asked,  was  the  evidence  of  murder  ?  The 
only  iota  of  evidence  that  turned  the  scale  against 
Wood  was  that  of  the  man  McGowan,  who  stated  that 
he  had  seen  the  prisoner  leaving  the  house,  and  had 
afterwards  recognised  him  by  an  alleged  peculiarity 
in  his  gait. 

Two  months  after  the  arrest  of  her  lover,  Ruby 
Young,  for  the  first  time,  had  said  that  he  had  a 
peculiar  gait  similar  to  that  described  by  McGowan, 
and  so  far  as  she  was  concerned  this,  said  counsel,  was 
a  gross  and  vindictive  lie. 

The  chief  evidence  called  for  the  defence  was  that 


124         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

of  Wood's  father  and  brother,  who  stated  that  he  was 
at  home  on  the  night  of  the  murder,  and  of  a  neigh- 
bour who  had  lived  beneath  them,  who  had  seen  Wood 
come  home  that  evening. 

A  ticket  collector  named  Westcott,  employed  at 
King's  Cross  station,  stated  that  he  lived  in  the  same 
road,  and  that  on  the  early  morning,  when  WTood  was 
stated  to  have  been  seen,  he  left  his  house  at  five 
minutes  to  five.  He  was  then  wearing  a  loose  over- 
coat. Westcott  was  a  broad-shouldered  man,  and  a 
boxer,  and  had  a  brisk  swinging  walk.  It  was  this 
man,  it  was  suggested,  whom  McGowan  had  mistaken 
for  Wood. 

Wood,  himself,  was  put  into  the  box  and  gave  his 
evidence  in  a  low,  and  at  times,  nearly  inaudible  voice, 
though  he  showed  not  a  sign  of  nervousness.  He  gave 
emphatic  denials  to  the  questions  put  to  him  in  cross- 
examination  by  Sir  Charles  Matthews,  but  he  admitted 
having  lied  in  the  matter  of  the  false  alibi  that  he 
had  attempted  to  set  up.  He  was,  he  said,  in  a  tight 
corner,  and  any  man  would  have  done  the  same  if 
placed  in  the  same  conditions. 

With  reference  to  the  fragments  of  paper  on  which 
were  words  in  his  handwriting  he  denied  that  they 
were  part  of  a  letter,  and  suggested  that  it  might  have 
been  some  scrap  of  writing  taken  from  his  pocket  by 
the  dead  woman.  The  theory  of  its  referring  to  an 
assignation  was,  he  suggested,  an  act  of  imagination 
upon  the  part  of  the  prosecuting  counsel. 

The  judge,  Sir  William  Grantham,  in  summing  up 
the  case,  pointed  out  that  had  it  not  been  for  the 
conduct  of  Wood  himself  in  telling  lies  and  keeping 


TWO  NOTABLE  TRIALS  125 

back    what    he    knew,  there   would   have    been    no 
justification  for  such  a  lengthy  trial. 

The  evidence  of  McGowan  was,  he  said,  open  to 
a  certain  amount  of  doubt,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the 
witness  had  not  mentioned  at  once  about  having 
noticed  a  peculiarity  in  the  walk  of  the  man  he  saw 
leaving  the  house  in  St.  Paul's  Road,  just  before  five 
o'clock  on  the  morning  of  September  12th. 

Then  the  statements  of  Ruby  Young  did  not  bring 
the  crime  home  to  the  prisoner  at  all.  That  was  a 
remarkable  feature  in  the  case.  A  number  of  witnesses 
for  the  Crown  did  not  directly  connect  the  prisoner 
with  the  crime. 

The  inference,  in  view  of  the  evidence  of  other 
witnesses,  was  that  Wood  in  his  evidence  had  been 
lying  all  through.  But  the  jury  could  not  convict 
him  because  he  was  a  liar.  It  was  mainly  in  conse- 
quence of  Wood's  own  false  statements  that  the  prose- 
cution were  bound  to  rely  upon  the  evidence  of  the 
other  witnesses  who  had  come  forward. 

"  Although,"  said  the  judge  in  concluding  his  address 

to  the  jury,  "  it  is  my  duty  to  do  all  I  can  to  further  the 

interests  of  justice,  it  is  also  my  duty  to  inform  the 

jury  that  they  must  not  find  a  man  guilty  unless  no 

loophole  is  left  by  which  he  can  escape.      In  my  judg- 

!  ment,  strong  as  is  the  suspicion  in  this  case,  I  don't 

:  think  the   prosecution    have  brought  the    case  near 

(  enough  home  to  the  prisoner — with  the  exception  of  the 

!  evidence  of  McGowan.     That  evidence,   if  implicitly 

|  relied  upon,  would  justify  you  in  finding  him  guilty  ; 

but  that  evidence  is  considerably  controverted.    I  don't 

j  think  the  identification,  even  if  true,  is  sufficient  to 


126         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

justify  you  in  finding  this  man  guilty.  Therefore, 
although  it  is  a  matter  for  you  alone,  it  is  my  duty  to 
point  out  the  effect  of  the  evidence,  and  it  is  my  duty 
to  point  out  that  unless  the  effect  of  the  evidence  is 
so  conclusive  that  there  can  be  no  doubt  in  anyone's 
mind,  you  should  give  the  prisoner  the  benefit  of  the 
doubt,  and  say  you  don't  think  he  is  guilty." 

It  was  a  quarter  to  eight  in  the  evening  when  the 
jury  retired  to  consider  their  verdict,  and  before  eight 
had  struck  they  were  back  again  in  court,  and  had 
pronounced  their  verdict  of  "  Not  guilty." 

Cheer  on  cheer  swept  through  the  court,  and  for 
some  minutes  it  was  impossible  for  the  judge  and  the 
court  officers  to  obtain  silence.  Men  and  women 
thronged  round  the  dock  eager  to  grasp  the  hand 
which  Robert  Wood  held  out  to  them  over  the  rail. 

Outside,  in  the  street,  the  dense  mob  that  thronged 
up  to  the  very  doors  of  the  court,  took  up  the  cry, 
and  yelled  itself  hoarse  with  the  words  "  Not  guilty. 
Not  guilty." 

The  public  had  long  before  this  decided  that  Wood 
was  innocent,  and  the  orgies  of  wild  enthusiasm  that 
followed  upon  the  announcement  of  the  verdict  were 
some  indication  of  the  tense  excitement  that  had  been 
pent  up  for  so  many  days.  Robert  Wood  had  become 
the  popular  hero  of  the  hour. 

It  is  difficult  now  to  account  for  this  hero-worship 
of  a  man  who  had  done  nothing  to  justify  such  wor- 
ship, except  upon  the  theory  of  an  emotional  infection 
that  had  destroyed  the  balance  of  collective  judgment. 
This  want  of  proportion  reached  its  limit  perhaps 
in  an  article  written  for  a  Sunday  paper  by  one  of  the 


TWO  NOTABLE  TRIALS  127 

best  known  actresses.  After  describing  the  emotional 
stress  through  which  she  had  passed  while  waiting 
for  the  jury  to  give  their  verdict  she  mentioned  that 
she  had  gone  into  the  hall.  There  she  had  noticed 
a  forlorn  little  figure  of  a  girl  wandering  listlessly 
up  and  down.  Someone  told  her  that  this  was  Ruby 
Young,  and  for  a  moment  she  had  felt  an  impulse  to 
go  and  speak  to  her,  for  she  pitied  her  from  the  bottom 
of  her  heart.  And  as  she  looked  at  her,  with  tears 
welling  up  in  her  eyes,  she  thought  of  Peter  when  he  had 
gone  out  and  wept  bitterly  ! 

It  was  a  matter  of  the  greatest  difficulty  for  those 
connected  with  the  case  to  force  a  way  through  the 
surging  crowd  that  was  waiting  to  give  a  boisterous 
welcome  to  the  acquitted  artist  and  his  solicitor  and 
counsel,  and  to  vent  their  disapproval  upon  witnesses 
who  had  dared  to  give  evidence  against  him, 
and  particularly  Ruby  Young. 

For  hours  she  waited,  trembling,  within  the  building, 
for  it  was  not  thought  prudent  to  allow  her  to  venture 
outside  ;  and  it  was  quite  late  at  night  before,  disguised 
as  a  charwoman,  she  was  able  to  make  her  escape 
through  a  small  door  that  had  not  attracted  the  notice 
of  the  mob. 

This  was  the  climax  of  one  of  the  most  unpleasant 
features  of  the  trial,  in  the  course  of  which  several 
of  the  witnesses  had  complained  to  the  judge  of  the 
attempts  that  had  been  made  to  intimidate  them 
from  giving  their  evidence. 

Another  memorable  feature  in  the  trial  was  the 
behaviour  of  the  accused. 

Throughout  his  ordeal  Wood  seemed  to  be  more 


128         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

concerned  about  the  impression  he  was  making  upon 
the  spectators  in  court  than  about  the  necessity  of 
accounting  satisfactorily  for  many  suspicious 
circumstances  that  told  against  him. 

So  well  did  he  appear  to  be  able  to  control  his 
emotions  that,  as  he  himself  wrote  afterwards,  he  could 
notice  whether  one  of  the  actresses  who  attended  the 
trial  day  by  day,  smiled  upon  him. 

Never  for  one  moment  did  he  lose  this  self-control 
or  appear  otherwise  than  an  unconcerned  witness  of 
the  events  upon  which  his  life  depended. 

This  absence  of  nerves  in  the  accused  is  what  struck 
most  people  as  one  of  the  strangest  features  in  a 
strange  trial,  and  caused  Mr.  Hall  Caine,  who  was 
present  in  the  court  throughout  the  whole  time,  to 
write  of  him :  "  That  he  felt  nothing  I  will  not  dare 
to  say,  that  his  mental  processes  were  not  frequently 
stirred  to  such  pain  as  comes  of  baffling  difficulties, 
but  that  the  ordeal  of  his  trial  was  a  terrible  one  to 
him  I  absolutely  refuse  to  believe.  Robert  Wood 
innocent  of  the  murder  of  Emily  Dimmock,  is  yet  th( 
most  remarkable  man  alive." 

In  what  trial  upon  a  charge  of  murder  has  there 
ever  been  witnessed  the  sight  of  the  prisoner,  whose 
life  was  hanging  in  the  balance,  laughing  and  chatting 
with  his  friends,  and  making  sketches  of  the  judge,  the 
counsel,  and  the  witnesses  ?  Even  at  the  most  crucia 
moment  of  the  trial,  when  the  jury  had  withdrawn 
to  consider  their  verdict  he  exhibited  no  trace  of 
anxiety,  but  until  called  below  sat  calmly  sketching, 
while  he  waited  for  their  return. 

And  thus  Mr.  Hall  Caine  wondered,  as  he  got  the 


TWO  NOTABLE  TRIALS  129 

prisoner  to  sign  his  name  upon  the  back  of  a  copy  of 
the  charred  fragments  of  the  letter,  whether  "  with 
air  his  mental  alertness,  his  intellectual  activity,  his 
temperamental  composure,  this  was  not  one  of  those 
men,  the  rare  and  mysterious  men,  who  lack  some 
necessary  quality  on  the  moral  side  of  their  nature." 


9 — (2121) 


CHAPTER  X 

SYMPATHETIC   INKS 

The  so-called  sympathetic  inks,  by  which  is  understood 
inks  that  give  a  writing  that  is  invisible,  or  nearly  so, 
until  it  has  been  acted  upon  by  the  air  or  treated  with 
a  special  reagent,  have  been  put  to  many  ingenious 
uses  by  the  criminal. 

Some  five  years  ago  an  innocent-looking  individual 
called  at  the  laboratory  of  one  of  the  leading  con- 
sulting chemists  in  London,  and  asked  whether  he 
could  be  supplied  with  a  writing  fluid  that  would  give 
writing  which  would  fade  away  in  a  short  time,  and 
also  with  another  ink  that  would  produce  words  that 
would  be  invisible  for  some  time  and  then  appear. 
He  gave  as  his  reason  for  requiring  these  that  he  wanted 
to  amuse  a  small  boy. 

The  sequel  was  seen  a  few  weeks  later  when  the  same 
plausible  individual  was  arrested  for  swindling  on  the 
race-course.  He  had  made  tempting  bets  on  certain 
horses,  the  names  of  which  he  had  written  on  slips 
of  paper,  and  had  handed  these  slips  to  those  who  ha( 
accepted  his  wagers. 

In  a  short  time  the  name  of  the  horse  on  each  slip 
of  paper  gradually  faded  away  while  the  name  o: 
another  horse  slowly  appeared  in  its  place. 

One  man  to  whom  one  of  these  slips  had  been  given, 
having  been  warned  by  another  victim,  hurried  away 
to  the  police  station,  and  was  in  time  to  let  the  superin- 
tendent see  the  name  of  an  "  outsider  "  replace  that 

130 


SYMPATHETIC  INKS  131 

of  one  of  the  favourites  upon  which  he  had  laid  his 
money. 

This  appears  to  have  been  the  last  detected  attempt 
to  use  a  sympathetic  ink  upon  the  race-course.  A 
disappearing  ink  frequently  used  for  this  purpose  is 
a  weak  solution  of  starch  containing  a  slight  trace 
of  iodine,  the  effect  of  which  is  to  produce  a  faint 
blue  colour.  On  exposure  to  the  air  the  colour  of 
writing  done  with  such  a  fluid  soon  fades  away. 

Fugitive  dye-stuffs  have  also  been  employed  as 
disappearing  inks,  and  some  of  these,  such  as  quinoline 
blue,  give  characters  that  rapidly  disappear  when 
exposed  to  sunlight. 

An  ink  that  is  invisible  for  some  time  is  a  solution 
of  silver  nitrate  in  ammonia,  which  gradually  becomes 
black  when  acted  upon  by  air  and  light.  Or  certain 
dye-stuffs  such  as  magenta,  that  have  been  treated 
with  a  bleaching  reagent  in  just  sufficient  quantity 
to  decolorise  them  fulfil  the  same  purpose,  the  original 
colour  gradually  reappearing  as  the  oxygen  of  the  air 
acts  upon  the  pigment. 

The  earliest  inks  that  were  rendered  visible  by 
chemical  reagents  were  believed  to  act  by  magnetism. 

Thus  in  a  medical  book  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
written  by  Brossonius,  a  "magnetic  fluid"  is  described 
made  from  "  arseniated  liver  of  sulphur,"  which  only 
became  visible  when  looked  at  with  the  "  eyes  of 
affection."  This  appears  to  have  been  nothing  more 
mysterious  than  an  ink  of  lead  acetate,  the  characters 
written  with  which  could  be  rendered  visible  by 
exposing  them  to  the  vapour  of  sulphuretted  hydrogen. 

Inks  of  this  kind  were  also  mentioned,  in  1669,  by 


132         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

Otto  Tachen,  who  referred  to  them  as  aqua  magnetice 
e  longinquo  agentes,  but  pointed  out  that  there  was 
nothing  magnetic  in  their  action.  The  term  sympa- 
thetic ink  appears  to  have  originated  with  Le  Mort, 
who  applied  it  to  the  lead  acetate  ink,  and  later  on 
the  name  was  extended  to  all  secret  inks. 

The  best  known  sympathetic  inks  consist  of  solu- 
tions of  cobalt  salts,  the  writing  done  with  which 
changes  on  heating  from  a  nearly  invisible  pink  to 
blue.  This  peculiarity  of  cobalt  to  form  two  series 
of  salts  containing  different  amounts  of  water  was 
discovered  in  1715  by  Waiz. 

Other  compounds  that  may  be  used  as  sympathetic 
writing  fluids  include  tannin,  which  forms  ordinary 
ink  on  the  addition  of  iron  sulphate ;  cobalt  nitrate 
which  becomes  blue  on  "adding  oxalic  acid,  and  gold 
chloride  which  gives  a  purple  colour  with  tin  chloride. 

Some  thirty  years  ago  a  patent  was  taken  out 
by  Kromer  for  the  use  of  a  sympathetic  ink  in  detecting 
any  tampering  with  envelopes.  The  two  dried  con 
stituents  of  the  ink,  say  tannin  and  iron  sulphate 
are  separated  by  the  adhesive  gum  upon  the  envelope 
so  that  should  steam  be  applied  to  open  the  letter 
the  two  substances  come  into  contact,  and  form  an 
ink,  which  leaves  a  stain  upon  the  paper. 

Printing  inks  based  upon  these  principles  are  used 
in  preparing  the  groundwork  of  cheques,  so  that  any 
attempt  to  remove  the  writing  from  the  cheque  by 
means  of  chemical  agents  will  be  betrayed  by  the 
change  of  colour  upon  the  body  of  the  paper. 

The   value   of   sympathetic   inks  in   detecting   ai 
offender  was  strikingly  shown  in  the  recent  Suttoi 


SYMPATHETIC  INKS  133 

libel  case,  in  which  a  woman  was  found  guilty  of 
sending  offensive  cards  through  the  post. 

The  story  is  a  very  remarkable  one.  For  many 
months  during  1908  and  the  early  part  of  1909,  there 
was  an  epidemic  of  anonymous  post  cards  in  Sutton, 
many  people  receiving  them  and  no  one  being  able  to 
trace  their  origin. 

Among  other  people  who  received  these  cards  was 
a  Mrs.  Tug  well,  and  in  some  of  them  it  was  stated  that 
she  and  another  woman  were  "  not  fit  members  " 
of  a  certain  congregation.  Suspicion  fell  upon  the 
housekeeper  of  the  Roman  Catholic  priest,  Annie 
Dewey,  and  mainly  on  the  evidence  of  a  handwriting 
expert,  she  was  committed  for  trial  at  the  Assizes. 

The  writing  on  the  libellous  cards  was  undoubtedly 
extremely  like  that  of  Miss  Dewey,  and,  as  events 
subsequently  proved,  was  a  very  skilful  imitation  of 
it  by  someone  who  wished  to  throw  suspicion  upon 
her.  When  the  Assizes  came  on,  no  evidence  was 
offered  by  the  prosecution  and  the  case  was  dismissed. 
The  libels  still  continued,  however,  and  Mrs.  Tugwell 
having  received  more  libellous  cards,  her  husband 
again  took  the  matter  up,  and  Miss  Dewey  was  once 
more  committed  for  trial  in  March,  1910.  The  trial 
was  a  very  exhaustive  one,  but  no  convincing  evidence 
was  brought  against  the  accused,  who  was  therefore 
acquitted. 

In  the  meantime  a  number  of  suspicious  circum- 
stances pointed  to  the  conclusion  that  Mrs.  Tugwell 
herself  was  the  author  of  the  libellous  cards  and  letters, 
and  that  she  had  also  apparently  written  those  that 
she  had  received  through  the  post. 


134         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

In  order  to  obtain  proof  of  this  the  police,  by 
arrangement  with  the  postal  authorities,  marked  a 
large  number  of  stamps  with  a  sympathetic  ink,  that 
would  not  become  visible  until  it  had  been  treated 
with  another  reagent. 

Instructions  were  given  to  the  postmaster  that  these 
marked  stamps  were  to  be  supplied  to  none  but 
members  of  the  Tugwell  family. 

In  April  two  more  libellous  post  cards  were  sent  to 
Canon  Cafferata,  a  Roman  Catholic  priest,  and  the 
stamps  upon  these  cards  were  two  of  those  marked 
with  the  invisible  ink. 

The  house  of  the  Tugwells  was  now  watched  by 
the  police,  and  one  evening  when  Mrs.  Tugwell  was 
seen  coming  out,  the  pillar-box  close  at  hand  was 
immediately  cleared  of  all  its  letters  by  an  official. 
Mrs.  Tugwell  then  put  two  letters  in  the  box,  both  of 
which  contained  foul  libels.  One  of  these  was  addressed 
to  a  friend  of  hers  and  the  other  to  herself. 

The  handwriting  on  both  these  letters  was  an 
imitation  of  that  of  Miss  Dewey.  A  warrant  was  now 
issued  for  the  arrest  of  Mrs.  Tugwell,  and  when  her 
house  was  searched,  envelopes  having  the  same  water- 
mark as  that  of  the  envelopes  containing  the  libellous 
letters  were  discovered.  There  were  also  found  some 
French  books  containing  the  French  phrases  used  in 
the  letters,  and  several  pieces  of  blotting  paper  upon 
which  were  words  and  phrases  occurring  in  libellous 
letters. 


CHAPTER  XI 

REMARKABLE   FORGERY  TRIALS 

Trials — William     Hale — The     Perreaus — Caroline     Rudd — 
Dr.  Dodd— - Whalley  Will  Case— Pilcher,  etc. 

The  evidence  given  at  the  trial  of  William  Hale,  in 
1728,  at  the  Old  Bailey  has  many  points  of  interest. 
The  accused  was  charged  with  forging  a  promissory 
note  for  £6,400. 

At  this  time  it  was  customary  for  certain  privileged 
persons  to  frank  letters  by  merely  signing  their  names 
upon  them  and  adding  the  word  "  free." 

In  this  case  the  forged  promissory  note  bore  the 
words  "  for  myself  and  partners  "  followed  by  the 
signature,  and  the  Attorney- General  pointed  out  in 
his  speech  for  the  prosecution  that  this  had  been  done 
by  erasing  the  two  "  e's "  of  "  free,"  inserting  an 
"o"  between  the  "f"  and  "  r,"  and  then  adding 
the  additional  words. 

It  was  also  alleged  that  the  ink  in  the  stroke  of  the 
beginning  of  the  letter  "  m  "  in  the  word  "  my  "  was 
in  an  older  kind  of  ink,  and  probably  originally  formed 
part  of  one  of  the  "  e's  "  in  the  word  "  free." 

The  old  creases  in  the  paper  were  also  such  as  might 
have  been  produced  by  the  folding  of  the  cover  of  a 
letter. 

Philip  Booth  denied  the  authenticity  of  the 
handwriting,  and  was  then  questioned  further  : — 

"  Are  they  in  the  same  ink  ?  " 

135 


136         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

To  which  he  replied,  "I  take  them  to  be  of  a  different 
ink." 

The  prisoner  was  found  guilty  and  condemned  to 
stand  thrice  in  the  pillory,  to  pay  a  heavy  fine,  and  to 
suffer  five  years'  imprisonment.  He  died  the  same 
year  in  Newgate. 

Two  celebrated  trials  for  forgery  in  which  evidence 
as  to  the  authenticity  of  handwriting  was  given,  took 
place  in  1775,  and  the  justice  of  the  verdicts  was 
hotly  discussed  for  long  afterwards.  In  the  first  of 
these  trials  Robert  and  Daniel  Perreau,  twin  brothers, 
were  accused  of  a  series  of  frauds  by  means  of  false 
bonds,  while  in  the  second  trial  Caroline  Rudd, 
who  had  given  evidence  for  the  Crown  against  the 
Perreaus  in  the  first  trial  was,  indicted  for  the  same 
offence. 

According  to  the  contemporary  accounts  Robert 
Perreau  was  an  "  apothecary  of  great  practice," 
while  his  brother  "  lived  in  the  stile  of  a 
gentleman." 

The  evidence  went  to  prove  that  Robert  Perreau 
asked  Drummond,  the  banker,  to  lend  him  £5,000 
upon  the  security  of  a  bond  for  £7,500  which,  he  alleged, 
had  been  given  to  his  brother  Daniel  Perreau  by  a 
Mr.  William  Adair. 

Mr.  Drummond  questioned  the  authenticity  of  the 
signature  upon  the  bond,  which  he  therefore  retained 
for  further  examination,  promising  to  return  it  the 
next  day  or  to  advance  the  money  for  the  loan.  In 
the  meantime  he  showed  it  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Admiralty,  who  at  once  agreed  that  the  signature  was 
a  forgery. 


REMARKABLE  FORGERY  TRIALS       137 

The  next  day  Perreau  willingly  accompanied  Drum- 
mond  to  Mr.  William  Adair  who  promptly  denied  all 
knowledge  of  the  bond. 

The  Perreaus  and  Mrs.  Rudd  now  attempted  to 
escape  in  a  coach,  but  were  arrested  and  charged  with 
forgery  before  Sir  John  Fielding  at  the  Westminster 
Guildhall.  Similar  charges  of  obtaining  money  from 
other  persons  by  means  of  bonds,  all  of  which  had  been 
signed  with  the  name  of  William  Adair,  were  brought, 
and  after  Mrs.  Rudd  had  given  evidence  that  she 
had  forged  the  signatures  at  their  instigation,  the 
two  brothers  were  committed  for  trial  at  the  Old 
Bailey. 

At  the  trial  evidence  was  given  by  William  Drum- 
mond  that  he  had  had  an  interview  with  Mrs.  Rudd, 
that  then  she  had  admitted  having  given  the  bond  to 
Robert  Perreau,  and  after  confessing  that  she  had 
forged  it  had  begged  them  "  for  God's  sake  to  have 
mercy  upon  an  innocent  man." 

Robert  Drummond,  brother  of  the  previous  witness, 
stated  in  his  evidence  that  when  Mrs.  Rudd  acknow- 
ledged the  forging  of  the  bond  he  had  expressed  doubts 
whether  she  was  speaking  the  truth,  seeing  that  the 
handwriting  was  so  different  from  that  of  a  woman. 
Mrs.  Rudd  had  then  written  the  words,  "  William 
Adair,"  upon  a  piece  of  paper  in  writing  so  like  that 
of  the  signature  on  the  bond  that  it  had  satisfied  him 
and  he  had  burned  the  paper. 

Evidence  was  next  given  by  a  brother  of  William 
Adair  and  by  a  clerk  that  the  handwriting  upon  the 
bond  was  not  that  of  William  Adair. 

John  Moody,  a  livery  servant  of  Daniel  Perreau, 


138         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

who  was  called  for  the  defence,  asserted  that  Mrs. 
Rudd  had  two  different  kinds  of  handwriting,  in  one 
of  which  she  wrote  letters  to  his  master  as  though 
coming  from  Mr.  William  Adair,  this  fictitious  writing 
being  absolutely  different  from  her  ordinary  writing. 
He  also  stated  that  she  used  different  pens,  ink  and 
paper  for  these  forged  letters,  and  that  the  hand- 
writing upon  the  bond  was  precisely  the  same  as  that 
in  the  fictitious  letters. 

The  defence  of  both  brothers  was  that  they  had  been 
deceived  by  Mrs.  Rudd,  who  had  given  them  the  bond 
as  a  true  one  and  that  they  had  presented  it  believing 
it  to  be  genuine. 

Many  distinguished  persons,  including  Sir  John  Moore, 
gave  testimony  as  to  their  character,  but  in  spite  of 
this  both  were  found  guilty  and  sentenced  to  death. 

After  their  conviction  great  efforts  were  made  to 
secure  a  pardon  for  them,  and  especially  for  Robert 
Perreau,  against  whom  the  evidence  was  not  so  strong. 
A  petition  was  presented  to  the  King,  and  the  news- 
papers were  filled  with  letters  in  favour  of  the  men, 
who,  as  a  large  section  of  the  public  believed,  had  been 
the  victims  of  a  designing  woman.  But  all  was  of  no 
avail  and  they  were  executed  in  January,  1776. 

Between  their  conviction  and  execution  came  the 
trial  of  Caroline  Rudd  for  the  same  forgeries.  She 
pleaded  that  having  been  accepted  as  a  witness  for 
the  Crown  she  ought  not  to  have  been  prosecuted  as  a 
principal.  This  point  of  law  was  referred  to  the  whole 
bench  of  judges,  whose  decision  was  that  the  trial 
should  proceed,  in  order  to  determine  whether  the 
prisoner  had  spoken  the  whole  truth. 


REMARKABLE  FORGERY  TRIALS       139 

She  had  charged  Robert  Perreau  with  soliciting  her 
to  forge  the  bond  and  his  brother  Daniel  with  forcing 
her  to  imitate  the  handwriting  of  William  Adair. 
"  If,"  ran  the  judgment,  "  she  has  suppressed  the 
truth  she  has  no  equitable  claim  to  favour  ;  and  if 
she  has  told  the  truth  and  the  whole  truth  she  cannot 
be  convicted."     The  trial  therefore  proceeded. 

The  principal  witnesses  were  the  wives  of  Robert 
Perreau  and  John  Moody.  Mrs.  Perreau  stated  that 
she  had  seen  Mrs.  Rudd  hand  a  bond  to  her  husband, 
Robert  Perreau,  which  was  signed  "  William  Adair." 
In  cross-examination  she  admitted  that  she  had  never 
before  seen  a  bond,  and  when  asked  how  she  could 
recall,  after  three  months,  the  names,  amounts,  date, 
and  other  particulars  upon  it  replied,  "  I  have  the 
happiness  to  have  a  good  memory."  At  the  same  time 
she  was  unable  to  remember  the  date  or  sum  in  any 
other  document  which  had  been  shown  to  her. 

John  Moody,  Daniel  Perreau's  servant,  again  gave 
evidence  as  to  Mrs.  Rudd's  using  two  kinds  of  hand- 
writing, and  asserted  that  he  believed  that  the  signa- 
ture of  Mr.  William  Adair  upon  the  bond  was  in  the* 
handwriting  of  the  prisoner.  In  cross-examination 
he  admitted  that  he  had  never  seen  Mrs.  Rudd  sign 
the  name  of  Mr.  Adair. 

The  defence  was  that  there  had  been  a  conspiracy 
on  the  part  of  the  relatives  and  friends  of  the  Perreaus 
against  Mrs.  Rudd,  and  Christian  Hart,  a  friend  of 
the  prisoner,  gave  some  evidence  in  support  of 
this. 

A  short  speech  was  then  made  by  Mrs.  Rudd,  who 
concluded  with  an  appeal  to  the  jury:  "Gentlemen, 


140         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

ye  are  honest  men,  and  I  am  safe  in  your 
hands." 

After  a  short  retirement  the  jury  gave  their  verdict 
in  the  following  curious  form :  "  According  to  the 
evidence  before  us,  not  guilty." 

For  many  years  after  these  trials  sides  were  taken 
for  and  against  the  Perreaus,  and  an  appeal  even  was 
made  to  Mrs.  Rudd  to  "  discover  the  secrets  of  a 
transaction  concerning  which  public  opinion  has  been 
so  much  divided."  It  was  plausibly  suggested  that 
a  declaration  of  the  fact  if  she  was  guilty  could  not 
then  affect  her  since  she  had  been  acquitted  by  the 
laws  of  her  country. 

Two  years  after  the  trial  of  the  Perreaus  and  Mrs. 
Rudd  came  another  notorious  forgery  trial,  which 
created  a  still  greater  sensation,  owing  to  the  fame 
of  the  prisoner  as  a  clergyman  and  an  author. 

On  the  8th  of  February  the  Reverend  Dr.  Dodd, 
editor  of  DodtTs  Beauties  of  Shakespeare,  once  one  of 
the  King's  Chaplains,  and  a  preacher  whom  Sunday 
after  Sunday  fashionable  London  had  flocked  to  hear, 
was  arrested  on  the  charge  of  forging  the  signature 
of  his  former  pupil,  the  Earl  of  Chesterfield. 

For  years  he  had  been  attempting  to  live  in  the 
style  which  he  thought  his  position  required,  and  had 
been  in  constant  difficulties  with  his  trades-people. 
At  length  to  satisfy  some  of  the  more  importunate, 
he  borrowed  £4,000  in  the  name  of  Lord  Chesterfield, 
whose  agent  he  represented  himself  to  be,  and  gave 
a  false  bond  for  the  sum. 

The  manner  in  which  the  forgery  was  discovered 
is  especially  interesting,  as  being  one  of  the  earliest 


REMARKABLE  FORGERY  TRIALS       141 

cases  in  which  the  appearance  of  the  ink  led  to  the 
detection  of  a  fraud. 

The  bond  had  been  left  with  a  Mr.  Manly,  who  was 
the  attorney  for  Messrs.  Fletcher  and  Peach,  who  had 
advanced  the  money,  and,  according  to  the  evidence 
which  he  gave  at  the  trial,  he  observed  "a  very  remark- 
able blot  in  the  first  letter  E  in  the  word  SEVEN, 
which  did  not  seem  to  be  the  effect  of  chance  but  done 
with  design.  He  thought  it  remarkable  but  did  not 
suspect  a  forgery ;  yet  he  showed  Mr.  Fletcher  the 
bond  and  blot,  and  advised  him  to  have  a  clean  bond 
filled  up,  and  carried  to  Lord  Chesterfield  for 
execution." 

When  this  was  done  Lord  Chesterfield  immediately 
disowned  the  bond,  and  Dr.  Dodd  was  thereupon 
arrested.  The  attorney  advised  him  that  if  he  returned 
the  money  it  would  be  the  only  means  of  saving  him. 
Accordingly  he  raised  the  £4,000,  on  the  understanding 
that  the  bond  should  be  returned  to  him  cancelled, 
but  the  charge  was  not  withdrawn,  and  he  was 
committed  for  trial  at  the  Old  Bailey. 

His  defence  was  little  more  than  a  confession  of 
guilt  and  a  plea  for  mercy,  and  after  an  absence  of 
only  a  few  minutes  the  jury  found  that  he  was  guilty, 
but  recommended  him  to  the  royal  mercy. 

After  the  conviction  unexampled  efforts  were  made 
to  gain  a  reprieve.  In  every  newspaper  there  were 
letters  pleading  for  the  life  of  the  prisoner,  and  the  most 
distinguished  men  of  the  day,  including  Dr.  Johnson, 
then  the  foremost  English  man  of  letters,  used  their 
influence  on  his  behalf.  Officers  of  the  parish,  dressed 
in  deep  mourning  went  from  door  to  door,  gaining 


142         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

signatures  for  long  petitions  to  the  king,  and  the  names 
thus  collected  filled  twenty-three  rolls  of  parchment. 
Finally,  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Council  went  in  state  to 
St.  James's  Palace  imploring  mercy  for  the  prisoner. 
But  all  was  to  no  purpose,  for  the  king  obstinately 
refused  to  show  any  favour  to  the  divine  whom  he 
had  formerly  dismissed  from  his  chaplaincy.  His 
constant  reply  to  all  these  petitions  was,  "  If  I  save 
Dodd  I  shall  have  murdered  the  Perreaus." 

On  the  27th  June,  1777,  Dr.  Dodd  was  taken  in  a 
cart  with  another  condemned  prisoner  from  Newgate 
to  Tyburn  and  executed. 

His  bad  luck  attended  him  to  the  last,  for  he  went 
cheerfully  to  the  place  of  execution  under  the  impres- 
sion that  the  executioner  would  be  able  to  cut  him 
down  and  hand  him  over  to  his  friends  before  it  was 
too  late  to  restore  him  to  life.  Unfortunately  for 
him  the  scheme  miscarried.  A  contemporary  account 
thus  describes  the  incident :  "  Just  before  the  parties 
were  turned  off  Dr.  Dodd  whispered  to  the  executioner. 
What  he  said  cannot  be  known  ;  but  it  was  observed 
that  the  man  had  no  sooner  driven  away  the  cart 
than  he  ran  immediately  under  the  gibbet,  and  took 
hold  of  the  doctor's  legs,  as  if  to  steady  the  body  ; 
and  the  unhappy  man  appeared  to  die  without  pain  ; 
but  the  groans,  prayers  and  tears  of  thousands  attended 
his  exit." 

That  Dr.  Dodd  was  hanged  at  Tyburn  is  unques- 
tionable, but  it  was  commonly  believed  at  the  time 
that  the  plan  arranged  with  the  executioner  had  proved 
successful,  and  that  after  being  cut  down,  he  was 
handed  over  to  his  friends,  who  applied  restoratives, 


REMARKABLE  FORGERY  TRIALS       143 

and  when  he  was  well  again  smuggled  him  over  to 
France,  where  he  lived  quietly  for  many  years  until 
his  death. 

There  is  no  reliable  evidence  of  this  rescue  from  the 
gallows,  and  although  a  few  years  ago  it  was  stated 
that  an  account  appeared  in  a  newspaper  of  1784, 
of  the  life  of  Dr.  Dodd  in  France,  the  present  writer 
has  been  unable  to  find  any  mention  of  this  in  the 
papers  of  that  date. 

The  trial  popularly  known  as  "  The  Great  Matlock 
Will  Case  "  is  a  good  illustration  of  the  way  in  which 
the  internal  evidence  of  documents  may  afford  definite 
proof  of  their  authorship. 

In  the  year  1856  a  surveyor  named  Nuttall  who 
lived  at  Matlock  died  leaving  an  estate  worth  about 
£60,000.  He  had  no  near  relatives,  and  the  only 
other  occupant  of  his  house  at  the  time  of  his  death 
was  his  housekeeper,  Catherine  Marsden.  Her  sister's 
husband,  John  Else,  had  been  employed  as  a  clerk 
for  many  years  by  Mr.  Nuttall,  and  wrote  in  a  hand- 
writing so  similar  to  the  surveyor's  that  people  were 
frequently  at  a  loss  to  tell  by  which  of  the  two  their 
letters  had  been  written. 

Nuttall  had  had  his  will  drawn  up  by  a  solicitor, 
and  had  made  a  copy  of  it  in  his  own  writing,  which 
was  signed  and  witnessed.  In  this  copy  certain  addi- 
tions benefiting  Else  had  been  introduced  between 
the  lines.  A  number  of  codicils  to  this  will  were 
subsequently  discovered  when  Else  had  become 
appointed  successor  to  Nuttall,  and  these  were  signed 
and  witnessed  by  a  local  farmer  and  a  surgeon,  so  that 


144         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

if  these  codicils  were  not  genuine,  there  was  conspiracy 
to  defraud  and  perjury  on  the  part  of  these  witnesses. 
The  genuine  nature  of  the  signatures  was  vouched  for 
by  a  bank  clerk,  who  stated  that  he  would  have  at 
once  paid  money  upon  cheques  so  signed. 

The  case  was  first  tried  before  a  jury  at  the  Derby 
Assizes  in  1859,  and  the  codicils  were  pronounced 
genuine.  The  Master  of  the  Rolls,  not  being  satisfied 
with  the  verdict,  directed  a  second  trial,  which  took 
place  in  1860,  and  this  time  the  jury  decided  that 
the  codicils  were  not  genuine.  The  plaintiffs  then 
appealed  first  to  the  High  Court  and  then  to  the  House 
of  Lords  and  a  new  trial  was  ordered. 

The  final  trial  came  on  before  the  Lord  Chief  Justice 
(Cockburn)  in  1864,  and  lasted  for  eight  days.  The 
jury  decided  against  the  genuineness  of  the  codicils, 
mainly  upon  the  characteristics  of  the  writing  and 
spelling. 

Both  Nuttall  and  Else  were  bad  spellers,  but  theii 
mistakes    were    different.     For    instance,  throughoi 
the  will  "  daughter  "  was  spelt  correctly,  whereas 
the  codicil  it  was  "  doughter,"  and  it  was  proved  th< 
Else  spelt  the  word  with  an  "  o,"  while  Nuttall  hi 
never  done  so. 

The  way  in  which  the  "  t  "  was  crossed  was,  however, 
the  most  convincing  piece  of  evidence.  It  was  shown 
that  NuttalTs  habit  was  usually  to  leave  the  "  t " 
uncrossed,  or  when  he  did  cross  it  to  do  so  completely. 
On  the  other  hand,  Else  generally  made  a  half-cross 
to  the  "  t's."  In  the  will  written  by  the  testator  there 
were  no  half -crossings,  whereas  in  the  interlineation 
and  the  codicils  the  half-crossed  "  t's  "  predominated. 


REMARKABLE  FORGERY  TRIALS       145 

This  difference  was  also  brought  out  in  a  large  number 
of  the  letters  of  the  deceased  and  of  Else,  which  were 
shown  to  the  jury. 

After  the  verdict  had  been  given  against  them  the 
plaintiffs  attempted,  though  without  success,  to  obtain 
yet  another  trial  of  the  case. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  trials  for  forgery  that 
has  taken  place  in  this  country  was  the  outcome  of  the 
famous  Whalley  will  case,  which  occupied  the  attention 
of  the  courts  for  three  years  in  the  early  eighties. 

James  Whalley,  whose  fortune  was  in  dispute,  died 
in  1881  leaving  £60,000.  He  had  been  a  reserved  man 
with  a  touch  of  eccentricity,  and  parsimonious  habits, 
and  in  spite  of  his  wealth  had  lived  for  many  years 
in  bare  lodgings  in  the  house  of  a  railway  porter 
named  Thomas,  at  Leominster. 

On  several  occasions  he  had  expressed  his  intention 
of  leaving  his  money  to  a  man  named  Priestman,  who 
though  at  the  time  unaware  of  the  truth,  was  in  fact 
his  natural  son  ;  and  there  was  convincing  evidence  to 
show  that  he  had  made  a  will  on  blue  paper  to  that 
effect. 

After  his  death,  however,  no  such  will  could  be  found, 
whereas  Thomas,  the  railway  porter,  produced  a  will 
on  white  paper,  in  which  the  bulk  of  the  fortune  was 
left  to  him. 

Certain  suspicious  circumstances  led  Whalley's  next 
of  kin  to  challenge  the  genuineness  of  the  will,  and 
though  as  yet  there  was  no  suggestion  of  forgery,  it 
was  urged  that  the  signature  had  been  obtained  by 
some  trick. 

IO— (2121 


146         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

After  some  time  a  compromise  was  made,  and  it 
was  arranged  that  Thomas  should  have  £17,000  and 
that  the  remainder  of  the  money  should  be  divided 
between  Priestman  and  Whalley's  relatives.  The  will 
was  proved  on  this  understanding. 

Here  the  matter  might  have  ended  had  it  not  been 
for  an  act  of  folly  upon  the  part  of  Thomas. 

Priestman  invited  his  solicitor  and  some  friends 
to  come  to  Leominster  to  celebrate  the  occasion,  and 
on  their  way  from  the  station  the  carriage  drove  past 
the  house  where  Whalley  had  lived. 

As  it  passed  by  Thomas  stood  at  the  window 
flourishing  a  piece  of  blue  paper. 

The  solicitor,  seeing  this,  jumped  to  the  conclusion 
that  this  paper  was  the  "  blue  will,"  which  Thomas 
was  flourishing  out  of  bravado,  to  show  that  he  had 
beaten  them.  This  led  him  to  make  further  inquiries, 
which  finally  resulted  in  his  concluding  that  the 
"  white  will  "  was  a  forgery. 

As  the  Court  of  Chancery  regarded  the  question 
as  one  to  be  decided  by  a  jury  the  case  was  tried  in  the 
Queen's  Bench  Division,  eminent  counsel  being  engagec 
on  each  side. 

Evidence  was  given  by  David  Reece,  whose  name 
appeared  upon  the  will  as  one  of  the  witnesses.  He 
swore  that  he  had  never  seen  Whalley  sign  a  will, 
but  that,  together  with  the  other  witness,  Nash,  h< 
had  put  his  signature  above  Whalley's  signature  on 
a  piece  of  white  paper  on  which  was  some  writing  in 
pencil. 

Other  evidence  was  then  called  to  prove  that  shortly 
before  his  death  Whalley  had  asked  Thomas  to  writ< 


REMARKABLE  FORGERY  TRIALS       147 

a  letter  in  pencil  to  Priestman,  to  which  he  had 
appended  his  signature  in  ink.  This  letter  Priestman 
had  never  received. 

The  inference,  therefore,  from  this  evidence  was  that 
the  will  had  been  written  upon  a  sheet  of  paper  from 
which  pencil  writing  had  been  erased. 

A  minute  examination  of  the  "  white  will  "  disclosed 
the  presence  of  traces  of  the  pencil  marks,  and  words 
could  be  sufficiently  deciphered  to  show  that  they  had 
formed  part  of  a  letter. 

The  evidence  of  a  number  of  expert  witnesses, 
including  Mr.  Holmes,  the  librarian  of  Windsor  Castle, 
made  clear  the  manner  in  which  pencil  marks  upon 
paper  which  had  apparently  been  erased  might  re- 
appear. When  india-rubber  is  passed  over  the  surface 
of  the  paper  it  removes  part  of  the  fibres  of  the  material 
but  only  doubles  over  another  portion,  so  that  in  time 
the  latter  may  unroll  again  and  uncover  the  writing 
which  had  for  a  time  been  concealed  by  it.  It  was 
proved  further  that  the  words  which  had  now  re- 
appeared upon  the  paper  were  in  the  handwriting 
of  Thomas. 

The  expert  evidence  that  was  brought  fully  confirmed 
the  story  of  the  witness  Reece,  and  the  "  white  will " 
was  pronounced  a  forgery. 

Subsequently  Thomas  was  tried  on  this  charge  and 
was  convicted  and  sentenced  to  fifteen  years'  penal 
servitude.  It  is  strange  to  reflect  that  had  it  not 
been  for  his  being  unable  to  resist  the  temptation  of 
showing  his  triumph  over  his  rivals,  by  flourishing 
a  blue  paper,  his  ingenious  fraud  would  in  all  probability 
never  have  been  detected. 


148         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

It  is  scarcely  likely  that  this  paper  was  the  original 
"  blue  will."  In  any  case,  the  latter  was  never  dis- 
covered, but  the  Courts  held  on  the  evidence  laid  before 
them  that  its  intention  should  hold  good,  and  that  the 
money  should  go  to  Priestman. 

An  elaborately  designed  forgery  was  detected  in 
1891  by  the  evidence  furnished  by  the  different  docu- 
ments. An  action  was  brought  by  a  man  named 
Howe  against  the  executors  of  a  Mr.  Ashton  to  recover 
£1,375,  which  he  alleged,  had  been  given  him  in  a 
cheque  shortly  before  the  testator's  death. 

The  body  of  the  cheque  was  admitted  to  be  in  the 
handwriting  of  Howe  who  said  that  he  had  written  it 
at  Ashton's  request. 

The  cheque  was  signed  "  B.  Ashton,"  whereas  in 
the  cheques  (produced  by  Mr.  Ashton's  bank)  for  many 
years  previously,  the  signature  was  invariably  "  Benj. 
Ashton,"  and  the  shorter  signature  was  only  employed 
in  letters.  The  evidence  went  to  show  that  Howe 
had  traced  the  signature  from  one  of  these  letters. 

A  further  discrepancy  was  apparent  in  the  form 
of  the  figure  "seven,"  Howe  invariably  forming  it 
laboriously  and  with  a  vertical  stroke  at  the  top, 
whereas  Ashton  had  always  made  it  in  a  continuous 
stroke.  In  support  of  his  statement  Howe  produced 
some  memoranda  of  sums  due  to  himself,  which  he 
asserted  to  be  the  handwriting  of  Ashton. 

In  these  the  figure  seven  was  invariably  formed 
in  the  same  way  as  Howe  made  it,  while  the  figure 
was  never  made  in  that  fashion  by  Ashton. 

To  account  for  one  sum  of  £200,  which  he  claimed 


REMARKABLE  FORGERY  TRIALS       149 

to  have  lent  to  the  deceased,  Howe  stated  that  he  had 
borrowed  the  sum  from  his  mother-in-law,  and  in 
corroboration  produced  a  promissory  note  which  he 
said  he  had  given  her  at  the  time. 

The  note  was  dated  1889,  and  the  date-mark  to  have 
coincided  with  this  should  have  been  "89."  An 
examination  of  this  document  suggested  to  the  judge, 
Mr.  Justice  Wills,  that  there  had  been  some  tampering 
with  the  date.  A  hole  in  the  paper  came  where  the 
"  8  "  should  have  been,  the  explanation  offered  for 
this  being  that  the  paper  had  been  put  upon  a  file. 
The  appearance  of  the  curve  of  what  was  left  of  the 
first  letter,  however,  was  not  like  the  curve  of  an 
"8,"  and  by  carefully  working  at  the  back  of  the 
paper  with  an  instrument,  the  torn  edges  of  the  hole 
were  pushed  back  into  their  place,  and  the  figures  of 
the  year  1890  were  made  plainly  visible. 

So  carefully  thought  out  had  this  fraud  been  that 
it  took  twelve  days  to  unravel  the  whole  matter.  After 
the  exposures  described  above  Howe  naturally  lost 
his  case,  and  the  papers  were  sent  to  the  Public 
Prosecutor.  Subsequently  Howe  was  tried  at  the  Old 
Bailey  for  forgery  and  convicted. 

The  trial  of  Frederick  Pilcher  at  the  Old  Bailey 
in  July,  1910,  on  the  charge  of  forging  his  cousin's 
will,  was  notable  as  being  the  first  occasion  upon  which 
chemical  evidence  as  to  the  age  of  modern  inks  has 
been  given. 

Pilcher,  who  was  a  naval  architect  and  colonel  in 
the  Territorials,  in  Liverpool,  had  for  many  years  been 
on  very  friendly  terms  with  his  cousin,  Marian  Lilian 


150         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

Kerferd,  and  had  been  entrusted  by  her  with  the 
management  of  some  of  her  property. 

Miss  Kerferd  died  in  March,  1909,  leaving  an  unsigned 
will  in  which  she  divided  the  bulk  of  her  estate, 
amounting  to  £20,000  to  £30,000,   between  various 
relatives,  while  only  £130  a  year  was  left  to  Colonel 
Pilcher,  whom  she  had  appointed  her  executor. 

Shortly  after  her  death  Pilcher  produced  a  signed 
will  bearing  the  date  of  1898,  which  he  stated  he  had 
found  among  the  papers  of  the  deceased,  and  in  this 
will  he  was  left  the  whole  of  the  property  and  appointed 
sole  executor. 

He  obtained  probate  of  this  will  and  took  possession 
of  the  estate,  dealing  liberally  with  the  members  of 
the  family  mentioned  in  the  unsigned  will. 

The  relations,  however,  were  not  satisfied  with  this 
state  of  affairs,  and  Mr.  Frank  Stokes,  as  next-of-kin, 
brought  an  action,  which  Colonel  Pilcher  did  not 
defend,  and  succeeded  in  getting  the  probate  set 
aside,  and  the  deceased  lady  was  declared  to  have 
died  intestate.  In  the  meantime  the  prisoner 
had  succeeded  in  spending  about  £5,000  of  the 
estate. 

When  arrested  he  stoutly  denied  that  the  will  was 
a  forgery,  but  after  evidence  had  been  given  at  Bow 
Street  he  was  committed  for  trial.  The  writing  upon 
the  will  showed  a  close  resemblance  to  that  of  Miss 
Kerferd,  but  the  bank  manager  of  the  deceased  lady 
stated  in  the  witness-box  that  in  his  opinion  it  was  an 
imitation. 

A  remarkable  fact  was  brought  out  in  his  evidence. 
Up  to  the  year  1903  Miss   Kerferd  had  invariably 


REMARKABLE  FORGERY  TRIALS       151 

formed  the  letter  with  a  particular  loop,  and  this 
was  seen  upon  all  the  cheques,  which  had  been  retained 
by  the  bank.  After  that  date,  however,  she  made 
her  "  k's "  in  a  totally  different  manner,  and  the 
looping  of  former  years  never  occurred  in  any  of  her 
writing.  Now  in  the  will  alleged  to  have  been  written 
in  1898  it  was  significant  that  the  "  k's  "  were  formed 
in  the  manner  of  later  years,  and  not  as  Miss  Kerferd 
made  them  in  1898. 

Certain  mistakes  of  spelling  in  the  will  were  also 
characteristic  of  the  prisoner,  whereas  Miss  Kerferd 
never  made  such  slips.  The  names  of  the  witnesses 
upon  the  will,  which  by  the  way  were  also  wrongly 
spelled,  were  those  of  men  who  had  been  dead  several 
years,  but  their  relatives  gave  evidence  that  these 
signatures  were  not  genuine. 

Evidence  was  also  given  by  the  present  writer  as 
to  the  age  of  the  ink  upon  the  alleged  will.  The  body 
of  the  will  and  the  signatures  of  both  witnesses  were 
all  written  in  the  same  kind  of  ink — a  fact  of  importance 
in  connection  with  the  half- confession  subsequently 
made  by  the  prisoner. 

On  his  appearance  at  the  Old  Bailey,  Pilcher  was 
defended  by  Mr.  Marshall  Hall,  and  after  two  days' 
trial,  he  acted  upon  the  advice  of  his  counsel  and  agreed 
to  plead  guilty  to  uttering  the  will,  though  he  persisted 
in  his  denial  of  having  forged  it. 

When  the  prisoner's  counsel  rose  to  make  this 
statement  there  was  dead  silence,  for  everyone  in 
court  was  aware  that  something  unusual  had  happened, 
and  there  passed  over  the  room  one  of  those  feelings 
of  tension  that  make  each  individual  in  a  crowd  lose 


152         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

sight  of  everything  except  the  unfolding  of  the  drama 
before  them. 

After  calling  several  witnesses  to  the  good  character 
of  the  prisoner,  Mr.  Marshall  Hall  made  a  strong  appeal 
for  mercy.  Colonel  Pilcher,  he  said,  had  been  a  very 
intimate  friend  of  this  lady,  who  had  frequently 
expressed  the  intention  of  leaving  him  her  money. 
Unfortunately,  having  put  off  signing  her  will  from  day 
to  day,  she  had  died  without  carrying  out  that  inten- 
tion, and  unluckily  for  him  the  prisoner  had  found  a 
will  among  her  papers,  but  without  the  signatures 
of  the  testatrix  or  witnesses.  He  now  owned  that  the 
signatures  were  not  genuine,  but  did  not  know  how 
they  had  been  put  upon  the  will.  In  uttering  the  will 
he  had  only  been  attempting  to  carry  out  the  wish  of 
the  dead  woman. 

In  mitigation  of  his  offence  it  was  pointed  out  that 
he  had  not  spent  all  the  money  he  might  have  done, 
that  he  was  over  sixty  years  of  age,  and  that  his  wife 
who  had  known  nothing  of  this  unfortunate  liaison 
of  her  husband  freely  forgave  him  for  any  pain  he 
might  have  caused  her. 

Before  sentence  was  passed  Mr.  Muir,  who  con- 
ducted the  case  for  the  prosecution,  protested  against 
the  explanation  of  the  finding  of  the  will  that  had  been 
given  in  this  confession,  and  said  that  in  face  of  the 
evidence  that  the  ink  upon  the  will  was  not  more 
than  six  years  old  he  could  not  accept  the  view  that 
the  prisoner  was  not  the  forger  of  the  document. 

The  judge,  in  passing  sentence,  said  that  even  now 
the  prisoner  had  not  made  a  clean  breast  of  the  matter, 
for  they  were  still  in  the  dark  as  to  who  had  signed 


REMARKABLE  FORGERY  TRIALS       153 

the  names  upon  the  will.  However,  taking  into 
acccount  the  good  character  that  had  been  given  to 
the  accused  by  those  who  had  known  him,  and  the 
points  urged  in  his  favour,  he  did  not  think  that  the 
extreme  measure  of  penal  servitude  was  deserved, 
and  the  sentence  would  be  one  of  three  years'  penal 
servitude. 


CHAPTER  XII 

IDENTIFICATION   OF  HUMAN   BLOOD   AND 
HUMAN   HAIR 

Structure   of   Blood — Human  Blood — Blood  of  Animals — 

-    Blood    Crystals — Libellers    of   Sir   E.    Godfrey — Trial    of 

Nation  in  1857 — Physiological  Tests — Precipitines — First 

Trial  in  France — Gorse  Hall  Trials — Human  Hair — Hairs 

of  Animals. 

In  its  structure  blood  may  be  described  as  a  colourless 
fluid,  the  plasma  having  in  suspension  small  solid 
substances — the  red  and  white  corpuscles.  The  plasma 
may  be  separated  into  a  coagulated  body  termed 
fibrin  and  a  transparent  liquid  called  the  serum.  When 
blood  coagulates,  or  forms  clots,  it  forms  a  solid  mass 
in  which  the  red  corpuscles  are  bound  up  in  the  fibrous 
mass  of  fibrin.  The  process  of  coagulation  is  pro- 
moted by  moderate  heat,  slight  dilution  with  water, 
and  exposure  to  the  air,  while  it  is  retarded  by  cold, 
strongly  heating,  great  dilution  and  the  addition  of 
various  chemical  agents. 

The  red  corpuscles  differ  in  size  and  shape  according 
to  the  species  of  animal.  Thus  in  human  blood  and 
in  the  blood  of  most  mammalia  they  appear  as  double 
concave  circular  discs,  while  in  the  blood  of  the  camel 
and  in  that  of  birds,  reptiles  and  fish  the  red  corpuscles 
are  elliptical  in  form. 

The  number  of  corpuscles  present  is  also  subject  to 
great  variations,  the  blood  of  amphibia  and  reptiles, 
for  instance,  containing  remarkably  few.   The  following 

154 


IDENTIFICATION  OF  BLOOD,  ETC.       155 

numbers  in  100  parts  of  the  blood  of  different  animals 
have  been  recorded  :  Horse,  53  ;  pig,  43' 5  ;  ox,  35  ; 
dog,  35*7 ;   and  man,  48  corpuscles. 

The  colour  of  blood  is  due  to  a  compound  known  as 
haemoglobin,  which  constitutes  about  40  per  cent,  of 
the  substance  of  the  corpuscles.  In  the  bright  red 
arterial  blood  the  haemoglobin  is  present  in  the  form 
of  oxyhaemoglobin,  and  the  latter  may  be  separated 
in  crystalline  form  by  suitable  treatment  of  the 
separated  red  blood  corpuscles.  These  crystals  differ 
in  the  case  of  different  animals  both  in  their  chemical 
and  physical  characteristics,  and  have  very  different 
forms. 

There  are  also  similarly  pronounced  differences 
between  the  microscopical  appearance  of  oxyhaemo- 
globin crystals  from  human  blood  and  from  that  of 
various  animals.  The  crystals  from  human  blood  are 
in  the  form  of  long  rhombic  needles  ;  those  from  the 
blood  of  the  horse  are  quadrilateral  prisms  ;  the  blood 
of  the  guinea-pig,  rat,  and  many  birds  yield  rhombic 
tetrahedea  ;  while  that  of  the  squirrel  gives  hexagonal 
plates. 

Crystals  of  other  compounds  of  haemoglobin,  such  as 
haemin,  differing  in  the  case  of  different  species  of 
animals  may  also  be  prepared,  and  the  identity 
of  oxyhaemoglobin  may  also  be  proved  by  its 
characteristic  appearance  in  the  spectroscope. 

It  is,  therefore,  under  favourable  conditions,  not 
a  very  difficult  matter  to  distinguish  between  the  fresh 
blood  of,  say,  a  man  and  a  squirrel  by  means  of  these 
characteristic  differences.  It  is  rarely,  however,  that 
the  problem  is  presented  in  such  a  simple  form  in 


156         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

criminal  work,  in  which  usually  all  that  is  available 
for  the  investigation  is  the  dried  stain  upon  some 
garment  or  the  clot  upon  a  rusty  knife. 

One  of  the  most  widely  employed  tests  is  to  dissolve 
a  little  of  the  material  in  acetic  acid  containing  a  little 
common  salt,  to  apply  a  gentle  heat  to  the  microscope 
slide,  and  then  to  notice  under  the  microscope  whether 
haemin  crystals  are  formed. 

Where  the  stain  is  upon  iron  it  is  often  impossible 
to  prepare  haemin  crystals,  and  in  such  cases  hydrogen 
peroxide  is  used  as  a  reagent.  This  compound,  when 
brought  into  contact  with  a  fragment  of  the  material 
moistened  with  alkaline  water,  gives  off  in  the  presence 
of  blood,  bubbles  of  oxygen,  which  gradually  form 
a  white  scum. 

Experiments  made  by  M.  Cotton  have  shown  that 
the  blood  of  different  animals  varies  in  the  intensity 
of  its  action  upon  hydrogen  peroxide.  Thus  human 
blood  liberates  about  twice  as  much  oxygen  as  the 
blood  of  the  horse  or  pig,  nearly  four  times  as  much 
as  that  of  the  ox  and  guinea-pig,  and  about  ten  times 
as  much  as  the  blood  of  the  sheep. 

Unfortunately  other  animal  fluids  have  a  similar 
action  upon  hydrogen  peroxide,  and  the  test  can 
therefore  only  be  regarded  as  corroborative  evidence 
of  the  results  obtained  by  other  tests. 

Attempts  have  sometimes  been  made  by  murderers 
to  remove  blood-stains  by  treatment  with  chemical 
agents,  so  as  to  prevent  their  identification. 

For  instance,  in  the  trial  of  Misters  for  murder  at 
Shrewsbury,  in  1841,  a  solution  of  alum  was  found  in 
his  room,  and  it  was  supposed  that  he  had  removed 


IDENTIFICATION  OF  BLOOD,  ETC.       157 

the  blood  from  his  shirt  by  treatment  with  this.  He 
was  convicted,  however,  upon  other  evidence. 

The  identification  of  blood-stains  upon  rusty 
weapons  is  a  more  difficult  matter  than  in  the  case 
of  stains  upon  linen. 

The  action  of  the  acid  salts  of  fruits  upon  the  iron 
may  produce  an  appearance  very  similar  to  that  of 
a  blood-stain,  the  citrate  of  iron  formed  having  a 
reddish  colour  which  on  more  than  one  occasion  has 
misled  even  a  surgeon. 

A  case  of  this  kind  happened  in  1838  in  Paris.  A 
man  who  had  been  accused  of  murdering  his  uncle, 
whose  heir  he  was,  was  found  to  have  a  knife  on  the 
blade  of  which  were  stains,  which  everyone  who  saw 
them  said  were  blood-stains. 

A  chemical  examination,  however,  which  was  made 
in  the  presence  of  the  magistrate  and  the  prisoner, 
proved  that  they  consisted  of  citrate  of  iron,  and  had 
been  produced  by  cutting  a  lemon  and  neglecting  to 
wipe  the  blade  after  use. 

It  has  frequently  happened  in  the  past  that  the 
opinion  of  policemen  or  witnesses  without  any  special 
knowledge  of  the  subject  has  been  taken  in  criminal 
cases  on  the  point  whether  stains  upon  clothes  or  on 
a  weapon  consisted  or  did  not  consist  of  blood. 

This  practice  was  obviously  a  dangerous  one,  since 
even  by  the  modern  methods  of  examination  it  is  not 
always  a  simple  matter  to  be  sure  of  the  fact. 

Until  a  comparatively  recent  date  the  tests  for 
blood-stains  were  based  upon  bringing  the  colouring 
matter  of  the  blood  into  solution  and  applying  chemical 
tests  to  establish  its  identity. 


158         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

The  necessity  for  scientific  proof  of  the  presence 
of  blood-stain's  is  shown  by  numerous  cases  in  which 
stains  of  similar  colour  have  at  first  been  attributed 
to  blood. 

Thus  in  a  case  related  in  Taylor's  Forensic  Medicine 
a  man  was  arrested  in  1840  on  suspicion  of  being 
connected  with  a  murder  in  Islington.  He  had  in 
his  possession  a  sack  on  which  were  numerous  stains 
supposed  to  be  dried  and  coagulated  blood.  When 
these  were  examined,  however,  they  were  found  to 
be  due  to  red  paint. 

In  another  case,  a  man  who  was  suspected  of  a 
murder  was  found  to  have  red  stains  on  his  shirt  and 
collar,  but  as  these  would  not  dissolve  in  water  they 
could  not  have  been  due  to  blood.  Subsequently  it 
was  found  that  they  had  been  caused  by  the  man  going 
out  in  the  wet  with  a  red  handkerchief  round  his  neck. 

An  early  example  of  the  way  in  which  the  evidence 
of  an  unskilled  witness  has  been  accepted  upon  the 
subject  of  blood  is  seen  in  the  evidence  given  in  1682 
at  the  trial  of  Thompson,  Pain  and  Farwell  for 
libel. 

The  libel  arose  out  of  the  earlier  trial  in  1679  of 
Robert  Green  and  others  for  the  murder  of  Sir  Edmund 
Godfrey,  who  had  been  waylaid  and  apparently 
strangled.  This  trial  was  one  of  those  arising  out  of 
the  so-called  Popish  Plot,  and  upon  the  evidence  of 
Titus  Oates,  Miles  Praunce  and  others  the  prisoners 
were  convicted  and  executed. 

Subsequently  a  letter  to  Mr.  Praunce  appeared  in 
The  Loyal  Protestant  Intelligence,  which  sought  to  make 
out  that  false  evidence  had  been  given  at  the  murder 


IDENTIFICATION  OF  BLOOD,  ETC.       159 

trial,  and  that  Sir  Edmund  Godfrey  had  not  been 
strangled  at  all,  but  had  committed  suicide. 

In  the  words  of  the  prosecuting  counsel  for  the 
prisoners — "  they  say  that  if  a  man  or  any  other 
creature  be  strangled  or  hanged  and  the  body  cold  and 
the  blood  settled  in  the  veins  (as  he  must  be  if  your 
evidence  be  true,  meaning  the  evidence  of  the  said 
Miles  Praunce).  Run  twenty  swords  through  such  a 
body  not  one  drop  of  blood  will  come  out ;  but,  on 
the  contrary,  his  body  when  found  was  full  of  blood. 
So  that  they  do  aver  that  that  wound  that  he  received 
by  that  sword  must  be  the  cause  of  death." 

William  Batson,  who  was  one  of  the  principal 
witnesses  for  the  prosecution,  stated:  "They  showed 
me  in  a  ditch  where  they  said  he  lay  some  blood.  I 
cannot  say  it  was  his  blood  ;  and  going  a  little  further 
I  saw  some  more  whitish  blood,  and  this  is  all  I  can 
swear." 

The  Lord  Chief  Justice  (Scroggs)  then  asked  if  the 
weather  had  been  frosty,  to  which  the  witness  replied  : 
"  My  lord,  I  cannot  tell  whether  it  was,  but  I  will 
assure  you  the  blood  looked  to  me  more  like  blood  that 
was  laid  there  than  anything  else." 

After  a  lengthy  trial,  in  which  the  main  evidence 
of  the  former  trial,  which  was  quite  unconvincing,  was 
repeated,  the  prisoners  were  found  guilty  of  traducing 
the  justice  of  the  nation  and  two  of  them  were  sentenced 
to  stand  for  an  hour  in  the  pillory  and  pay  a  fine  of 
£100  each,  while  the  third  escaped  with  the  fine  only. 

Where  stains  have  been  found  upon  the  clothes  or 
on  a  weapon  in  possession  of  an  accused  person  and 
have  been  proved  to  consist  of  blood,  the  defence  has 


160         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

frequently  been  set  up  that  they  were  caused  by  the 
blood  from  a  sheep  that  had  been  killed  or  from 
handling  game. 

Ten  years  ago,  prior  to  the  discovery  of  the  serum 
test,  it  would  not  have  been  possible,  except  in  the 
cases  where  the  blood  corpuscles  could  be  examined, 
to  prove  or  disprove  this  except  by  corroborative 
evidence.  There  was  no  chemical  means  of  deter- 
mining whether  an  old  blood  stain  had  been  caused 
by  the  blood  of  a  man  or  that  of  an  animal. 

Taylor,  writing  in  1844  upon  this  point,  observes  : 
"  Some  French  medical  jurists  state  that  by  mixing 
fresh  blood  with  a  certain  portion  of  sulphuric  acid 
and  agitating  the  mixture  with  a  glass  rod  a  peculiar 
odour  is  evolved  which  differs  in  the  blood  of  man 
and  animals,  and  also  in  the  blood  of  the  two  sexes. 
This  odour,  it  is  said,  resembles  that  of  the  cutaneous 
exhalation  of  the  animal,  the  blood  of  which  is  the 
subject  of  experiment.  They  have  hereby  pretended 
to  determine  whether  any  given  specimen  of  blood  had 
belonged  to  a  man,  a  woman,  a  horse,  sheep,  or  fish. 
Others  pretend  that  they  have  been  able  to  identify 
the  blood  of  frogs  and  fleas  !  " 

As  Taylor  pertinently  observes  of  this :  "  There  is 
probably  not  one  individual  among  a  thousand  whose 
sense  of  smelling  would  be  so  acute  as  to  allow  him 
to  state  with  undeniable  certainty,  from  what  kind 
of  animal  the  unknown  blood  had  really  been  taken. 
Any  evidence  short  of  this  would  not  be  received  ii 
an  English  court  of  law." 

On  the  first  occasion  upon  which  scientific  evidenc 
as  to  the  difference  between  the  blood  of  man  and 


IDENTIFICATION  OF  BLOOD,  ETC.       161 

animals  was  given  in  a  criminal  trial  the  remarks  made 
by  the  judge  (Lord  Chief  Justice  Cockburn)  to  the  jury 
showed  that  he  was  sceptical  as  to  the  powers  claimed 
by  the  chemical  witness  of  distinguishing  between 
different-  kinds  of  blood. 

In  this  case,  which  was  tried  at  the  Taunton  Assizes, 
in  1857,  a  man  had  been  found  with  his  throat  cut, 
and  collateral  evidence  pointed  to  a  man  named 
Nation  being  the  murderer.  When  he  was  arrested 
he  was  found  to  have  a  knife  upon  him  on  which  were 
stains  that  appeared  to  be  blood,  but  the  prisoner 
accounted  for  these  by  saying  that  he  had  recently 
been  cutting  raw  beef  with  the  knife. 

The  chemical  evidence,  however,  went  to  prove 
that  coagulation  of  the  blood  had  not  occurred  until 
after  it  had  come  into  contact  with  the  knife,  or,  in 
other  words,  that  the  blade  had  been  plunged  into 
living  blood. 

Moreover  it  was  stated  by  this  witness  that  the  blood 
could  not  have  been  that  of  an  ox,  pig  or  sheep,  since 
the  corpuscles  were  smaller  than  those  of  human  blood, 
whereas  the  corpuscles  of  the  blood  upon  the  knife 
were  of  the  same  dimensions  as  those  of  human  blood. 
The  relative  sizes  of  human  corpuscles  compared  with 
those  of  the  animals  mentioned  were  stated  to  be 
as  fifty-three  to  thirty-four  in  the  case  of  the  ox ;  as 
fifty-two  to  thirty-four  in  sheep's  blood ;  and  as 
forty-five  to  thirty-four  in  pig's  blood. 

The  judge,  in  his  summing  up,  made  the  following 
comments  upon  the  evidence  :  "  The  witness  had 
said  that  the  blood  upon  the  knife  could  not  be  the 
blood  of  an  animal  as  stated  by  the  prisoner,  and  took 

ii— (2121) 


162         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

upon  himself  to  say  it  could  not  be  the  blood  of  a  dead 
animal ;  that  it  was  living  blood  and  that  it  was 
human  blood  ;  and  he  had  shown  them  the  marvellous 
powers  of  the  modern  microscope.  At  the  same  time, 
admitting  the  great  advantages  of  science,  they  were 
coming  to  great  niceties  indeed,  when  they  speculated 
upon  things  almost  beyond  perception,  and  he  would 
advise  the  jury  not  to  convict  on  this  scientific 
speculation  alone." 

The  jury  found  the  prisoner  guilty  upon  evidence 
other  than  this  "  scientific  speculation,"  the  novelty 
of  which  probably  prevented  the  judge  from  accepting 
it  as  a  demonstration  of  facts  which  might  be  verified 
or  disproved. 

The  application  of  a  remarkable  discovery  in  physio- 
logical chemistry  has  now  made  it  possible  to  determine 
whether  a  blood-stain  consists  of  the  blood  of  any 
particular  kind  of  animal. 

In  1898  it  was  discovered  by  Bordet  that  on  injecting 
serum  of  cow's  milk  into  a  small  animal,  such  as  a 
rabbit,  which  was  then  killed  after  a  lapse  of  som< 
weeks,  the   serum  separated   from  its   blood   woul 
produce  a  precipitate  in  cow's  milk. 

This  discovery  was  supplemented  by  Wassermann 
who,  in  1900,  found  that  it  was  possible  in  this  way 
to  distinguish  between  the  milk  of  different  kinds  of 
animals,  and  he  suggested  the  name  precipitines  for 
these  specific  precipitating  agents  formed  in  the  ser 
of  animals. 

Then  Dr.  von  Rigler  showed  that  the  method  migh 
be  employed  to  distinguish  between  the  flesh  of  different 
kinds  of  animals. 


a 


GOAT  S    HAIR 

A.  Apex  of  Fibre. 

B.  Root. 

C.  Fibre      showing       central 
canal  or  medulla. 


COW'S    HAIR 

A  and  B.  Fibres  showing  central 
canal  or  medulla. 

C.  Apex  of  Fibre. 
By  kind  permission  of 

Messrs.  Scott  Greenwood  &  Co. 


IDENTIFICATION  OF  BLOOD,  ETC.       163 

He  prepared  a  20  per  cent,  aqueous  extract  from  the 
flesh  of  seven  different  species  of  animals,  and  injected 
small  proportions  of  these  beneath  the  skin  of  rabbits 
at  intervals  of  three  days.  After  a  month  the  animals 
were  killed,  and  the  serum  of  the  blood  separated  in  a 
centrifugal  machine. 

In  each  case  the  specific  sera  were  added  to  the  clear 
filtered  aqueous  extracts  of  the  flesh  of  the  respective 
animals,  and  the  tubes  examined  after  the  lapse  of  a 
specified  time. 

It  was  found  that  the  sera  only  gave  a  turbidity 
or  precipitate  with  the  corresponding  extracts.  Thus 
the  serum  from  the  rabbit  which  had  been  treated  with 
an  extract  of  horseflesh  only  gave  a  reaction  with 
preparations  of  horseflesh,  and  not  with  those  of  venison, 
beef,  mutton  or  pork.  In  like  manner,  the  serum  from 
a  rabbit  that  had  been  treated  with  an  extract  of 
rabbit's  flesh,  only  reacted  with  extracts  of  rabbit's 
flesh,  and  not  with  those  prepared  from  the  flesh  of 
cats,  horses,  or  other  animals,  and  so  on. 

In  the  case  of  mixtures  the  specific  sera  only  reacted 
with  extracts  of  the  flesh  of  the  two  animals  in  question. 
Thus  a  rabbit  treated  with  an  extract  from  a  mixture 
of  the  flesh  of  a  hare,  cow,  deer,  and  pig,  yielded  a 
serum  giving  a  precipitate  with  the  extracts  of  the 
flesh  of  each  of  those  animals,  but  not  with  that  from 
any  other  animal. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  possibility  of  using  the 
method  to  distinguish  between  the  blood  of  different 
kinds  of  animals  suggested  itself,  and  it  was  shown 
by  Dr.  de  Nobel  in  1902,  that  by  treating  a  mouse 
or  rabbit  with  any  fluid,   such  as  blood  serum  or 


164         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

saliva  from  a  human  body,  it  eventually  produced  a 
serum  that  would  give  a  precipitate  with  human  blood, 
but  not  with  the  blood  of  different  species  of 
animals. 

Reactions  were  also  obtained  with  old  human  blood. 
Thus  stains  on  linen  from  several  days  to  two  months 
in  age,  when  treated  with  dilute  solutions  of  common 
salt  gave  a  solution  which  yielded  a  precipitate  with 
the  prepared  rabbit's  serum.  No  reaction  was 
obtained,  however,  with  the  preparation  from  a  blood- 
stain nine  years  old  or  with  that  from  blood  which  had 
been  dried  in  a  high  temperature. 

It  was  also  found  that  the  specific  sera  could  be 
evaporated  in  a  vacuum  without  losing  their  activity, 
and  that  the  dried  residues  could  be  preserved  in 
sealed  tubes  in  the  dark,  and  mixed  with  water  when 
required  for  use. 

Other  investigators  showed  that  it  was  possible 
to  separate  the  active  agent  by  adding  magnesium 
sulphate  to  the  serum,  and  that  the  precipitate  could 
be  dried  and  kept  for  a  long  period.  By  dissolving 
it  in  water  at  any  time  a  liquid  with  the  specific 
properties  of  the  original  serum  could  then  be  obtained. 

Later  work  has  shown  that  this  serum  test  is  no1 
quite  so  absolute  as  was  at  first  believed.  Thus,  ii 
the  blood  serum  to  be  tested  be  used  in  too  concen- 
trated a  form  it  may  give  a  reaction  with  a  serum  thai 
is  not  specific  to  it,  though  even  in  that  case  the 
precipitate  will  only  appear  slowly  and  its  amount 
will  be  insignificant  in  comparison  with  that  obtainec 
when  the  two  liquids  correspond. 

The   error   is   obviated   by   using   extremely  dilute 


FIBRES   OF   CHINESE   SILKS, 
SHOWING   CROSS   SECTION 


KANGAROO  S 
HAIR 


HUMAN    HAIR 


A  B 

A.  Hair  of  a  Cat 

B.  Hair  of  a  Dog 

By  kind  permission  of  Messrs.  Scott  Greenwood  &  Co. 


IDENTIFICATION  OF  BLOOD,  ETC.       165 

solutions  for  the  test,  and  when  proper  precautions  are 
taken  a  solution  of  normal  blood  serum  containing 
one  part  in  1,000  invariably  gives  a  reliable  reaction 
with  its  corresponding  prepared  serum.  In  more 
concentrated  solutions  there  is  an  abundant  deposit 
at  the  bottom  of  the  tube  within  thirty  minutes, 
whereas  in  the  case  of  sera,  which  are  not  specific  to 
the  prepared  serum,  the  formation  of  precipitate  does 
not  begin  until  the  tube  has  stood  for  an  hour  or  more. 

An  interesting  exception  to  the  rule  is  that  the  serum 
from  the  blood  of  anthropoid  apes  gives  a  pronounced 
reaction  with  serum  that  has  been  made  specific  for 
human  blood,  and  vice  versa. 

As  it  is  not  possible  to  carry  out  control  tests  with 
an  indefinite  number  of  animals  a  positive  result 
obtained  in  the  examination  of  a  particular  stain 
justifies  a  report  that  the  blood  was  (e.g.)  probably 
human  blood  and  certainly  not  that  of  any  common 
domestic  animal. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  results  of  a  negative  test 
justify  a  much  more  positive  statement. 

Thus  on  the  first  occasion  in  which  evidence  was 
given  as  to  the  results  of  this  test,  which  was  in  a 
criminal  case  in  France  in  1902,  the  prisoner  had 
asserted  that  certain  incriminating  stains  had  been 
caused  by  the  blood  of  a  rabbit. 

A  serum  specific  for  rabbit's  blood  serum  was  there- 
fore prepared,  and  the  stains  dissolved  and  tested  as 
described  above.  No  sign  of  precipitate  was  obtained 
within  thirty  minutes  after  applying  the  test  and 
evidence  was  therefore  given  that  the  stain  certainly 
did  not  consist  of  rabbits'  blood.     On  the  other  hand, 


166         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

a  serum  made  specific  for  human  blood  gave  an  imme- 
diate precipitate  with  the  solution  of  the  stain,  which, 
therefore,  in  all  probability  consisted  of  human  blood. 

Although  this  method  of  testing  blood-stains  has 
been  used  on  the  Continent  for  several  years,  it  is 
only  within  the  past  twelve  months  that  it  has  been 
employed  in  a  criminal  case  in  this  country. 

Apparently  the  first  occasion  was  in  the  recent  trial 
of  Mark  Wilde  for  the  murder  of  Mr.  George  Storrs, 
a  mill-owner,  at  Gorse  Hall.  Evidence  was  given  that 
old  stains  were  present  upon  the  outside  of  the  sleeve 
of  the  prisoner's  blue  serge  coat,  although  they  were 
not  visible  to  the  naked  eye.  These  were  found  to 
consist  of  mammalian  blood,  and  the  serum  test  for 
human  blood  gave  a  positive  reaction.  It  was,  of 
course,  impossible  to  form  any  idea  as  to  the  age  of 
the  stains,  and  the  witness,  Dr.  Wilcox,  refused  even 
to  give  an  estimate  upon  this  point. 

A  simple  method  of  applying  the  serum  test  has 
recently  been  discovered.  A  small  quantity  of  human 
serum  is  placed  into  a  series  of  tubes,  and  into  each 
of  these  is  next  introduced  one  drop  of  the  fresh  blood 
of  different  animals  diluted  with  salt  solution,  or  of 
the  dried  blood  dissolved  in  that  liquid. 

The  tubes  are  now  allowed  to  stand  for  thirty  to 
forty -five  minutes  and  are  then  examined.  If  in  the 
case  of  the  blood  of  unknown  origin  there  is  a  faint 
red  precipitate  (of  coagulated  blood)  leaving  the  upper 
liquid  quite  clear,  the  blood  is  of  human  origin. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  blood  of  other  species  of 
animals  will  have  dissolved  in  the  human  serum, 
colouring  it  red. 


3     J   1    >     >      5 


RABBIT  S     HAIR 


HORSE    HAIR 

By  kind  permission  of  Messrs.  Scott   Greenwood  &  Co. 


IDENTIFICATION  OF  BLOOD,  ETC.       167 

If  the  tubes  are  charged  in  the  first  place  with  the 
blood  of  the  horse,  ox,  or  other  animal,  the  corre- 
sponding blood  is  coagulated,  while  that  of  any  other 
animal  dissolves.  In  this  way  it  is  possible  to  apply 
the  physiological  test  without  the  necessity  of  preparing 
a  special  serum  by  inoculation. 

From  time  to  time  in  criminal  trials,  the  latest  instance 
being  in  the  Crippen  case,  the  question  occurs  whether 
a  given  specimen  of  hair  is  of  human  origin  or  has  been 
derived  from  an  animal.  Thanks  to  the  pronounced 
difference  in  appearance  shown  by  hairs  of  different 
origin  when  viewed  under  the  microscope  there  is 
no  difficulty  in  giving  a  positive  answer  to  this 
question. 

Human  hair  is  characterised  by  being  fairly  uniform 
in  diameter  throughout  most  of  its  length  and  then 
tapering  gradually  to  a  fine  point.  The  hair  of  an 
infant  has  very  few  scales  upon  its  surface,  and  these 
stand  out  prominently,  but  in  the  case  of  an  adult  the 
scales  are  very  numerous  and  appear  closely  pressed 
against  the  axis  of  the  fibre.  Another  peculiar  point 
of  difference  between  the  hair  of  a  young  child  and 
that  of  a  full-grown  person  is  that  in  the  case  of  the 
former  there  are  some  particulars  in  which  the  hair 
resembles  that  of  certain  animals.  Thus  it  has  a 
jointed  appearance  recalling  to  some  extent  the 
structure  of  the  fibres  of  merino  wool. 

In  the  hair  of  many  animals  the  medulla,  or  central 
canal,  is  plainly  visible  under  the  microscope,  but  such 
medullated  fibres  are  apparently  not  formed  in  the 
case  of  human  hair. 


168         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

As  the  hair  of  many  domestic  animals  might  on 
superficial  examination  be  mistaken  for  human  hair, 
it  is  essential  to  take  note  of  the  characteristic  differ- 
ences, some  of  which  are  shown  in  the  accompanying 
figures. 

Three  types  of  hair  are  found  upon  the  cow,  viz.  : 
thick  beard  hairs,  showing  a  medulla,  soft  woolly 
hairs,  and  fine  beard  hairs,  both  of  which  are  without 
a  medulla.  In  those  fibres  in  which  it  is  present  the 
medulla  is  very  pronounced  and  tapers  towards  the 
apex.  The  hair  of  the  calf  has  the  same  structure  as 
that  of  the  cow. 

Horse-hair  is  characterised  by  its  lustrous  cylindrical 
appearance.  The  commercial  fibre  is  mainly  derived 
from  the  mane  and  tail,  and  is  much  thicker  and  stiffer 
than  the  hairs  from  the  body,  which  are  those  most 
likely  to  be  met  with  in  criminal  investigations.  As  a 
rule,  the  latter  are  less  than  an  inch  in  length,  and  the 
medullary  canal  is  well  marked. 

In  rabbit's  hair  the  medulla  is  also  very  pronounced 
and  is  characterised  by  its  structure  of  curious  quad- 
rilateral cells,  which  may  either  form  a  single  row  or 
increase  to  four  or  eight  rows  as  the  hair  becomes  wider. 
On  the  surface  of  the  hair  are  numerous  scales  which 
fit  into  one  another  after  the  manner  of  the  joints  in 
a  bamboo  cane. 

The  chief  commercial  use  of  the  rabbit's  hair, 
which  is  usually  about  half  an  inch  in  length,  is  the 
manufacture  of  linings  for  hats. 

The  hair  of  the  cat  has  a  superficial  resemblance  to 
that  of  the  thinner  hairs  of  the  rabbit.  The  medullary 
canal  is  very  prominent,  and  occupies  more  than  half 


-*-*.  ^  J>  ■~c- 


^m./yt    jj^yt^Y^ 


C^^nT^S^ 


(IRISH   WETHER] 


±^~*-^J 


QUEENSLAND    SHEEP 


;. 

1     t22f 

I 
| 

-rc-r^ 

K\\f**- 

[J? 

-TV, 

\    02 

L 

r-y-*-^" 

(NEW   ZEALAND) 


LINCOLN    WETHER 


(NORTH    HOG) 


(ARGENTINE  CROSS   breed) 


WOOL   FIBRES 
From  different  breeds  of  Sheep 
By  kind  permission  of  Messrs.  Scolt  Greenwood  &  Co. 


IDENTIFICATION  OF  BLOOD,  ETC.       169 

of  the  fibre.  It  is  made  up  of  a  single  series  of  quad- 
rilateral cells,  but  unlike  the  cells  in  rabbit's  hair, 
these  may  form  additional  layers  in  the  thicker  parts 
of  the  hair.  The  hair  is  generally  a  little  over  half 
an  inch  in  length,  and  tapers  to  a  fine  point. 

Dog's  hair  differs  from  the  hair  of  the  cat  both  in 
size  and  appearance.  It  is  about  three  times  as  wide, 
while  the  medullary  canal  only  occupies  about  one 
quarter  of  the  diameter  of  the  fibre.  The  surface 
of  the  hair  is  covered  with  characteristic  scales,  the 
edges  of  which  project,  so  that  the  edge  of  the  fibre  has 
a  saw-like  appearance. 

The  accompanying  plate  shows  hair  taken  from 
a  Pekin  spaniel  and  Persian  kitten,  and  drawn  to  the 
same  scale  of  magnification  (104  diameters). 

In  the  hair  of  the  kangaroo  the  serrated  edge  of  the 
fibres,  due  to  projecting  scales,  is  much  more  pronounced 
than  in  dog's  hair.  The  medulla  is  well  marked,  but 
lacks  the  cellular  structure  to  be  seen  in  the  hair  of 
the  cat  and  rabbit. 

Goat's  hair  could  not  possibly  be  mistaken  for 
human  hair  under  the  microscope.  It  has  a  root  of 
characteristic  appearance,  and  shows  a  well-marked 
medulla  containing  a  structure  of  narrow  cells. 

Towards  the  middle  the  hair  becomes  very  narrow, 
but  expands  again  and  reaches  its  greatest  diameter 
a  little  before  the  point. 

Sheep's  wool  is  characterised  by  its  surface  struc- 
ture of  scales,  the  arrangement  of  which  differs  in  the 
wool  from  different  breeds  of  sheep.  In  some  of  the 
fibres  the  medullary  canal  is  very  manifest.  Typical 
fibres  of  sheeps'  wool  are  shown  in  the  figures. 


170         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

It  is  often  necessary  to  distinguish  between  fabrics 
of  cotton,  linen,  silk  and  wool,  and  in  such  cases  the 
microscopical  appearance  of  the  fibres  is  invaluable 
as  a  preliminary  test.  Cotton  is  characterised  by  its 
curious  corkscrew-like  twists,  and  linen  by  its  jointed 
structure,  while  silk  has  a  long  smooth  cylindrical 
fibre,  devoid  of  scales  and  showing  little  sign  of 
structural  formation. 

In  criminal  cases  neither  cotton  nor  silk  are  likely 
to  be  claimed  as  human  hair,  although  one  may  easily 
conceive  the  possibility  of  occasions  arising  where  the 
composition  of  a  peculiar  material  was  a  point  of  the 
utmost  importance. 


COTTON    FIBRES 


FLAX   FIBRES 

By  kind  permission  of  Messrs.  Scott  Greenwood  &  Co. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

EARLY  POISONING  TRIALS 
Murder  of  Sir  T.  Overbury — Mary  Blandy — Katherine  Nairn 
Merely  to  mention  the  word  "  poisoner"  calls  up  along 
succession  of  notorious  crimes  of  the  past,  not  to  speak 
of  the  still  more  frequent  cases  where  poisoning  was 
suspected,  though  probably,  often  enough,  with  but 
little  justification.  Less  than  three  centuries  ago  the 
fact  that  illness  and  death  had  come  suddenly  to  any 
well-known  person,  was  often  sufficient  to  raise  the 
whisper  of  suspicion  ;  and  any  disease  that  did  not 
yield  to  the  favourite  treatment  of  bleeding,  and  for 
which  the  physicians  were  for  the  moment  unable  even 
to  find  a  name,  was  sure  to  be  attributed  by  popular 
gossip  to  the  action  of  poison  or  witchcraft,  or  of  both. 

The  mysterious  effect  of  certain  substances  upon 
the  animal  system  and  the  fact  that  a  knowledge  of  the 
nature  of  poisonous  herbs  was  part  of  the  lore  of  the 
old  women  who  dealt  in  love-philtres,  fully  explains 
this  association  of  poison  with  black  magic. 

In  one  of  the  earliest  trials  for  poisoning  of  which 
we  have  any  detailed  account — that  of  Richard  Weston 
in  1615 — this  belief  in  the  miraculous  power  of  the 
poisoner  was  present  in  the  mind  of  the  Lord  Chief 
Justice  (Coke)  when  in  his  charge  to  the  grand  jury 
he  said  that  "  The  devil  had  taught  divers  to  be  cun- 
ning in  poisoning  so  that  they  can  poison  in  what 
distance  of  space  they  please  by  consuming  the 
calidum  or  humidum  radicale  in  one  month,  two,  or 

171 


172         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

three  or  more  as  they  list ;  which  they  four  manners  of 
ways  do  execute  (1)  gustu  ;  (2)  haustu  ;  (3)  odore  ; 
(4)  contactuP 

Again,  in  the  trial  of  Anne  Turner,  also  for  the 
murder  of  Sir  Thomas  Overbury  ( 1615) ,  evidence  was 
given  that  she  was  in  possession  of  parchments,  some 
of  which  contained  the  names  of  the  blessed  Trinity ; 
others  on  which  were  written  +B+C  +  D  +  E; 
and  another  with  a  figure  in  which  was  inscribed  the 
word  "  corpus,"  and  to  which  was  fastened  a  little 
piece  of  the  skin  of  a  man.  "  In  some  of  these  parch- 
ments were  the  names  of  devils  who  were  conjured 
to  torment  the  Lord  Somerset  and  Sir  A.  Main  waring 
if  their  loves  should  not  continue — the  one  to  the 
Countess  and  the  other  to  Mrs.  Turner." 

Reading  over  the  evidence  of  this  trial  one  can 
hardly  doubt  but  that  this  alleged  sorcery  had  consider- 
able weight  in  the  conviction  of  Anne  Turner  ;  for, 
as  will  be  shown  presently,  there  was  no  conclusive 
evidence  of  poison  having  been  given  at  all. 

The  widespread  hatred  of  witchcraft  and  the  readi- 
ness with  which  any  evidence  of  this  description  was 
accepted  as  a  proof  of  poisoning,  must  have  rendered  it 
almost  impossible  for  an  unpopular  character  to  be 
acquitted  when  accused  of  poisoning  anyone. 

The  belief  in  witchcraft  was  very  general  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  and  medical  men  were  even  called 
in  to  give  their  expert  opinion  on  behalf  of  the  prose- 
cution in  the  trials  of  those  charged  with  being 
witches. 

The  most  striking  instance  of  this  kind  was  at  the 
trial  of  the  Suffolk  witches  in  1665,  before  Sir  Matthew 


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EARLY  POISONING  TRIALS  173 

Hale,  Baron  of  Exchequer.  It  was  alleged  that  the 
two  women,  Rose  Cullender  and  Amy  Duny,  of  Lowe- 
stoft, had  bewitched  a  number  of  children  with  whose 
parents  they  had  had  disputes.  The  children,  according 
to  the  evidence  of  various  witnesses,  had  been  afflicted 
in  different  ways,  being  sometimes  blind,  or  deaf,  or 
lame,  and  then  suddenly  recovering.  And,  in  particular, 
it  was  stated  that  they  would  go  into  fits  and  after 
every  fit  would  vomit  crooked  pins  or  twopenny  nails 
with  broad  heads. 

Mr.  Sergeant  Keeling,  who  was  present,  was  not 
satisfied  with  this  evidence  and  considered  that  it 
was  not  sufficient  to  convict  the  prisoners. 

Dr.  Browne,  of  Norwich  (the  Sir  Thomas  Browne 
whose  fame  rests  upon  his  Religio  Medici) ,  was  then 
asked  to  state  what  he  thought  of  the  evidence,  and 
said  that  he  was  clearly  of  opinion  that  the  persons 
were  bewitched. 

He  said  further  "  That  in  Denmark  there  had  been 
lately  a  great  discovery  of  witches,  who  used  the  very 
same  way  of  afflicting  persons  by  conveying  pins  into 
them,  and  crooked  as  these  pins  were,  with  needles 
and  nails.  And  his  opinion  was  that  the  devil  in  such 
cases  did  work  upon  the  bodies  of  men  and  women, 
upon  a  natural  foundation  (that  is)  to  stir  up  and 
excite  such  humours  super-abounding  in  their  bodies 
to  a  great  excess,  whereby  he  did  in  an  extraordinary 
manner  afflict  them  with  such  distempers  as  their 
bodies  were  most  subject  to,  as  particularly  appeared 
in  these  children  ;  for  he  conceived  that  these  swooning 
fits  were  natural,  and  nothing  else,  but  only  heightened 
to   a   great    excess   by    the    subtlety    of   the    devil, 


174         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

co-operating  with  the  witches,   at  whose  instance  he 
doth  these  villainies." 

This  evidence  is  quoted  at  length,  as  showing  the 
opinion  of  scientific  men  of  that  time  upon  the  subject 
of  witchcraft.  It  had  great  weight  with  the  jury,  and 
helped  to  make  up  for  the  lack  of  any  real  evidence 
against  the  poor  women. 

Further  evidence  was  given  "  that  at  the  least  touch 
of  one  of  these  supposed  witches,  Rose  Cullender  by 
name,  the  children  would  shriek  out,  opening  their 
hands,  which  accident  would  not  happen  by  the  touch 
of  any  other  person." 

A  test  was  therefore  applied  in  court,  and  a  number 
of  those  present  were  directed  by  the  judge  "  to  attend 
one  of  the  distempered  persons  in  the  further  part  of 
the  hall,  while  she  was  in  her  fits,  and  then  to  send 
for  one  of  the  witches  to  try  what  would  happen,  which 
they  did  accordingly  :  and  Amy  Duny  was  conveyed 
from  the  bar  and  brought  to  the  maid  :  they  put  an 
apron  before  her  eyes,  and  then  one  other  person 
touched  her  hand,  which  produced  the  same  effed 
as  the  touch  of  the  witch  did  in  the  court.  Whereupoi 
the  gentlemen  returned  openly  protesting  that  the] 
did  believe  the  whole  transaction  of  this  business  was 
a  mere  imposture." 

But  even  this  test,  which  was  plain  proof  of  impos- 
ture, was  distorted  into  evidence  against  the  witches, 
and  Mr.  Pacy,  the  father  of  one  of  the  children,  declarec 
"  That  possibly  the  maid  might  be  deceived  by 
suspicion,  that  the  witch  touched  her  when  she  di( 
not,"  and  that  she  apprehended  that  the  person  whc 
had  done  her  this  wrong  was  near. 


EARLY  POISONING  TRIALS  175 

Additional  evidence  was  afterwards  brought  to 
prove  other  acts  of  witchcraft  by  the  prisoners.  The 
judge,  in  giving  his  direction  to  the  jury,  did  not 
attempt  to  deal  with  the  evidence  "  lest  by  so  doing 
he  should  wrong  the  evidence  on  one  side  or  other," 
but  contented  himself  with  pointing  out  that  there 
were  such  creatures  as  witches,  as  was  shown  by  the 
Scriptures  and  the  laws  made  by  all  nations  against 
such  persons. 

The  jury  retired,  and  after  deliberating  for  about 
half  an  hour,  found  both  prisoners  guilty,  and  the  judge 
sentenced  them  to  be  hanged.  They  were  repeatedly 
urged  to  make  a  confession,  but  were  executed  without 
having  done  so. 

Campbell  writing  of  this  trial  says :  "  Hale's  motives 
were  most  laudable ;  but  he  furnishes  a  memorable 
instance  of  the  mischiefs  originating  from  superstition. 
He  was  afraid  of  an  acquittal  or  a  pardon,  lest  coun- 
tenance should  be  given  to  a  disbelief  in  witchcraft, 
which  he  considered  tantamount  to  a  disbelief  in 
Christianity.  The  following  Sunday  he  wrote  a 
'  Meditation  concerning  the  mercy  of  God  in  pre- 
serving us  from  the  malice  and  power  of  Evil  Angels ' 
in  which  he  refers  with  complacency  to  the  trial  over 
which  he  had  presided  at  Bury  St.  Edmunds." 

Towards  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  the 
!  belief  in  witchcraft  became  less  general,  and  the  last 
trial  in  this  country  took  place  in  1712  at  the  Hertford 
Assizes,  when  the  prisoner  wTas  convicted  but  not 
executed.  It  was  not  until  1821,  however,  that  the 
statute  with  regard  to  witchcraft  was  repealed  in 
I  Ireland. 


176  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

After  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  there 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  any  attempt  made  to 
prove  the  use  of  the  powers  of  witchcraft  in  poisoning 
trials,  and  the  evidence  as  to  poisoning  gradually 
became  of  a  more  convincing  character  than  it  was, 
for  instance,  in  the  series  of  trials  of  the  murder 
of  Sir  Thomas  Overbury  in  1615  in  the  Tower  of 
London,  to  which  reference  has  already  been  made. 

The  prisoners  in  these  trials  included  Anne  Turner, 
Richard  Weston,  Franklyn,  Sir  Thomas  Elwes  (the 
Lieutenant  of  the  Tower),  and  the  Countess  of 
Somerset. 

It  was  alleged  that  the  Countess  of  Somerset  resented 
the  interference  of  Sir  Thomas  Overbury,  then  a 
prisoner  in  the  Tower,  in  her  matrimonial  schemes/  or 
as  Franklyn  put  it  in  his  evidence  :  The  Countess  had 
told  him  that  Sir  Thomas  Overbury  "  would  pry  so 
far  into  their  affairs  that  it  would  overthrow  them  all." 

Richard  Weston,  who  had  been  an  apothecary's 
man  but  had  afterwards  become  under-keeper  to  the 
Lieutenant  of  the  Tower,  was  arraigned  on  the  charge 
that  "  he  did  obtain  at  the  Tower  of  London  certa 
poison  of  green  and  yellow  colour  called  rosalg; 
(knowing  the  same  to  be  deadly  poison),  and  the  sa 
did  feloniously  and  maliciously  mingle  and  compoun 
in  a  kind  of  broth  which  he  did  deliver  to  the  sai 
Sir  T.  Overbury  with  intent  to  kill  and  poison." 

He  was  also  accused  of  giving  on  other  occasions  j 
poisons  called  "  white  arsenick  "  and  mercury  sub-  • 
limate,  which  he  "  put  and  mingled  "  in  tarts  and  I 
jellies. 

Weston  refused  to  answer,  and  stood  "  mute  o 


EARLY  POISONING  TRIALS  177 

God,"  until  it  was  pointed  out  by  the  Lord  Chief 
Justice  (Coke)  that  refusing  to  speak  was  punishable 
by  the  rack,  exposure  and  starvation,  and  would  have 
the  same  consequence  as  a  conviction  by  a  verdict 
or  by  confession. 

Anne  Turner,  who  was  tried  as  one  of  the  accom- 
plices, was  the  widow  of  a  physician,  and  a  friend  of 
the  Countess.  She  pleaded  "Not  guilty"  to  the 
charge. 

The  evidence  as  to  sorcery  used  by  her  has  already 
been  mentioned,  but  the  chief  witness  against 
her  was  James  Franklyn,  who  made  the  following 
confession  : — 

"  Mrs.  Turner  came  to  me  from  the  Countess  and 
wished  me  from  her  to  get  the  strongest  poison  I 
could  for  Sir  T.  Overbury.  Accordingly  I  bought 
seven,  viz.  :  Aqua  fortis,  white  arsenick,  mercury, 
powder  of  diamonds,  lapis  costitus,  great  spiders,  and 
cantharides.  All  these  were  given  to  Sir  T.  Overbury, 
and  the  Lieutenant  knew  of  these  poisons. 

"  Sir  T.  Overbury  never  eat  white  salt  but  there  was 
white  arsenick  put  into  it.  Once  he  desired  pig,  and 
Mrs.  Turner  put  into  it  lapis  costitus.  At  another  time 
he  had  two  partridges  sent  him  from  the  Court,  and 
water  and  onions  being  the  sauce,  Mrs.  Turner  put 
in  cantharides  instead  of  pepper,  so  that  there  was 
scarce  anything  that  he  did  eat,  but  there  was  some 
poison  mixed.  For  these  poisons  the  Countess  sent 
me  reward.  She  afterwards  wrote  unto  me  to  buy 
her  more  poisons." 

It  is  obvious  from  this  confession  that  the  poisons 
supplied  had    no   power,   and  it  would   seem   that 

12— <2I2l) 


178         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

Franklyn  was  making  an  income  for  himself  by  sup- 
plying harmless  preparations  for  the  poisons  for  which 
he  was  being  paid. 

As  far  as  it  is  possible  to  judge  by  reading  the 
evidence  there  was  proof  that  attempts  had  been 
made  to  poison  Sir  Thomas  Overbury,  but  no  proof 
that  any  poison  was  ever  given  to  him. 

However,  the  evidence  appears  to  have  been  quit* 
sufficient  to  convict  the  prisoners.  In  passing  sentence 
upon  Anne  Turner  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  informed  her 
that  she  had  been  guilty  of  the  seven  deadly  sins,  anc 
that  as  she  was  the  inventor  of  that  horrid  garb,  the 
yellow  tiffany  ruffs  and  cuffs,  he  hoped  she  woulc 
be  the  last  by  whom  they  would  be  worn. 

To  this  end  he  ordered  that  she  should  be  hangec 
in  that  garb  she  had  made  so  fashionable.  This  ws 
duly  done,  while  as  a  further  condemnation  of  the 
fashion  to  which  the  judge  had  taken  exception  the 
hangman  wore  yellow  bands  and  cuifs. 

It  is  said  that  the  fashion  of  wearing  yellow  starchec 
linen  died  with  her. 

After  the  execution  of  Mrs.  Turner  and  Westoi 
came  the  trial  of  Franklyn,  who  confessed  that  poisoi 
had  not  been  the  cause  of  Overbury 's  death. 

Weldon,  who  in  1755,  published  a  history  of  the 
Kings  of  England  describes  how  Franklyn  and  Westoi 
"  came  into  Overbury 's  chamber  and  found  him  ii 
infinite  torment  with  the  contention  between  the  state 
of  nature  and  working  of  the  poison,  and  it  had  beei 
very  like  that  nature  had  got  the  better  in  that  con- 
tention   but  they,  fearing  it  might  come  te 

light  by  the  judgment  of  physicians  that  foul  play  ha< 


EARLY  POISONING  TRIALS  179 

been  offered  him,  consented  to  stifle  him  with  bed- 
clothes, which  accordingly  was  performed.  And  so 
ended  his  miserable  life,  with  the  assurance  of  the 
conspirators  that  he  died  of  poison,  none  thinking 
otherwise  but  these  two  murtherers." 

The  account  given  by  Weldon  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  received  this  confession 
is  well  worth  quoting  :  "  And  now  poor  Mrs.  Turner, 
Weston  and  Franklyn  began  the  tragedy.  Mrs. 
Turner's  day  of  mourning  being  better  than  her  life, 
for  she  died  very  penitently  and  showed  much  modesty 
in  her  last  act.  After  that  died  Weston,  and  then  was 
Franklyn  arraigned,  who  confessed  that  Overbury  was 
smothered  to  death  not  poisoned  to  death,  though  he 
had  poison  given  him. 

"  Here  was  Coke  glad  to  cast  about  to  bring  both 
ends  together,  Mrs.  Turner  and  Weston  being  already 
hanged  for  killing  Overbury  by  poison,  but  he  being 
the  very  quintessence  of  the  law  presently  informed 
the  jury  that  if  a  man  be  done  to  death  with  pistol, 
poinard,  sword,  halter,  poison,  etc.,  so  he  be  done 
to  death,  the  indictment  holds  good,  if  but  indicted 
for  one  of  those  ways  ;  but  the  good  lawyers  of  those 
times  were  not  of  that  opinion,  but  did  believe  that 
Mrs.  Turner  was  directly  murthered  by  Lord  Coke's 
law  as  Overbury  was  without  any  law." 

After  the  trial  and  execution  of  the  minor  prisoners 
came  the  trial  of  the  Countess  of  Somerset,  the 
instigator  of  the  crime,  before  the  House  of  Peers. 

The  Clerk  of  the  Crown  asked  her,  "Frances  Countess 
of  Somerset,  art  thou  guilty  of  the  felony  and  murder, 
or  not  guilty  ?  " 


180         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

And  she,  making  obeisance  to  the  Lord  High  Steward, 
answered  "  Guilty,"  in  a  low  timid  voice. 

The  Attorney-General,  Sir  Francis  Bacon,  then 
praised  King  James  in  a  fulsome  manner,  and  held 
out  hopes  of  pardon  to  the  prisoner.  The  Lord  Chief 
Justice  Coke  also  talked  in  servile  terms  of  the  king, 
whose  instructions  for  the  investigation  of  the  murder, 
he  declared,  "  deserved  to  be  written  in  a 
sunbeam." 

The  Clerk  of  the  Crown  now  asked  the  Countess 
"  if  she  had  any  cause  to  allege  why  sentence  of  death 
should  not  be  passed  upon  her." 

To  this  the  prisoner  replied  in  a  low  voice,  which 
only  the  Attorney-General  heard,  "  I  can  much 
aggravate,  but  cannot  extenuate  my  fault.  I  desire 
mercy  and  that  the  lords  will  intercede  for  me  to  the 
king." 

An  officer  of  the  Crown  then  presented  the  white 
staff  to  the  Lord  High  Steward,  and  sentence  of  death 
was  passed. 

The  Lord  High  Steward  (Chancellor  Ellesmere)  now 
addressed  the  weeping  prisoner  in  the  following  words  : 
"  Since  the  lords  have  heard  with  what  humility  and 
grief  you  have  confessed  the  fact,  I  do  not  doubt  they 
will  signify  so  much  to  the  king,  and  mediate  for  his 
grace  towards  you." 

The  next  day  the  Earl  was  tried  and  was  found 
guilty,  but  both  he  and  the  Countess  received  only 
nominal  punishment.  It  was  alleged  that  this  leniency 
to  the  Earl  and  Countess  was  due  to  King  James 
himself  having  been  cognisant  of  the  plot  to  kill 
Overbury. 


EARLY  POISONING  TRIALS  181 

The  trial  of  Mary  Blandy,  in  1752,  at  the  Oxford 
Assizes  for  the  murder  of  her  father  is  remarkable  as 
being  the  first  one  of  which  there  is  any  detailed 
record,  in  which  convincing  scientific  proof  of  poisoning 
was  given. 

Mr.  Blandy,  who  was  an  attorney  at  Henley-on- 
Thames,  was  extremely  fond  of  Mary,  his  only  daughter, 
and  according  to  the  story  told  by  the  prosecuting 
counsel  at  the  trial,  "  had  pretended  that  he  could 
give  her  £10,000  for  her  marriage  portion  in  hopes 
that  neighbouring  gentlemen  would  pay  their  addresses. 
But  this  pious  fraud,  which  was  intended  for  her 
promotion,  proved  his  death  and  her  destruction." 

A  Captain  Cranstoun,  who  was  recruiting  at  Henley, 
hearing  she  was  to  have  £10,000  fell  in  love,  not  with 
her,  but  with  her  fortune,  and  concealed  from  her  the 
fact  that  he  already  had  a  wife. 

The  father  having  heard  rumours  of  the  bad  char- 
acter of  Cranstoun,  refused  to  let  his  daughter  have 
anything  to  do  with  him.  She  continued  to  see  him, 
however,  and  listened  to  his  proposal  to  get  the  father 
out  of  the  way  as  soon  as  possible,  so  that  he  might 
get  possession  of  the  £10,000  of  which  the  poor  man 
had  unfortunately  said  he  was  possessed. 

In  August,  1750,  Mary  Blandy  began  to  prepare 
people  for  the  death  of  her  father  by  giving  out  that 
she  had  heard  music  in  the  house,  this  being  looked 
upon  as  a  certain  portent  of  death. 

Then  Captain  Cranstoun  sent  her  a  present  of 
Scotch  pebbles  and  enclosed  with  them  a  packet  of  a 
white  powder  which  she  was  to  put  into  her  father's 
food. 


182         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

She  gave  him  some  of  this,  which  made  him  very 
ill,  but  as  he  recovered,  Captain  Cranstoun  sent  her 
more  powder,  and  some  of  this  she  put  into  his  gruel 
with  the  result  that  he  again  became  violently  ill,  and 
died  with  symptoms  suggestive  of  arsenical  poisoning. 

Before  his  death  he  was  told  that  Mary  had  been 
putting  poison  into  his  food,  and  only  said,  "  Poor 
love-sick  girl.  What  won't  a  girl  do  for  a  man  she 
loves  ?  I  forgive  her  :  I  always  thought  there  was 
mischief  in  these  cursed  Scotch  pebbles  !  " 

The  scientific  evidence  at  this  trial  was  given  in  a 
very  convincing  manner  by  a  Dr.  Addington,  who  had 
attended  the  poisoned  man  and  had  examined  the 
body  and  tested  the  white  powder  that  had  been  sent 
by  Captain  Cranstoun.  He  stated  that  this  was 
arsenic,  and  that  he  had  found  the  same  poison  in 
Mr.  Blandy's  gruel. 

When  asked  in  cross-examination  why  he  believed 
this  to  be  white  arsenic  he  described  the  different  tests 
he  had  applied  to  this  powder  and  to  a  sample  of  pure 
white  arsenic  that  he  had  purchased,  and  showed  how 
the  same  results  were  obtained  in  each  case,  and  con- 
cluded with  the  remark  :  "I  never  saw  any  two  things 
in  nature  more  alike  than  the  decoction  made  with 
the  powder  found  in  Mr.  Blandy's  gruel  and  that  made 
with  white  arsenic." 

The  judge  in  his  summing  up  to  the  jury  remarked 
that  the  case  was  one  which  was  to  be  made  out  by 
circumstances.  A  great  part  of  the  evidence  rested 
upon  presumption,  and  if  the  jury  regarded  the 
presumption  as  a  violent  one,  that  is  to  say,  one 
where  the  circumstances  spoke  so  strongly  that  to 


EARLY  POISONING  TRIALS  183 

suppose  the  contrary  would  be  absurd,  that  amounted 
in  law  to  full  proof. 

The  jury,  after  deliberating  for  five  minutes,  found 
the  prisoner  guilty.  She  was  executed  on  April  6th, 
and  left  a  written  confession  in  which  she  stated  that 
she  had  not  been  aware  that  the  powder  she  had  given 
to  her  father  was  in  any  way  noxious  or  poisonous. 

Cranstoun  was  subsequently  prosecuted  and  outlawed 
for  his  share  in  the  murder. 

If  the  scientific  evidence  in  this  early  trial  was  a 
model  of  what  such  evidence  should  be,  the  same  can 
hardly  be  said  of  that  given  at  the  trial  of  Katharine 
Nairn  and  Patrick  Ogilvie  at  the  High  Court  of  Edin- 
burgh in  August,  1765,  for  the  murder  of  Thomas 
Ogilvie,  the  husband  of  Katharine.  They  had  only 
been  married  in  January  of  that  year,  and  it  was  at 
about  the  same  time  that  Patrick  Ogilvie,  who  was 
a  lieutenant  in  the  army,  had  returned  from  abroad. 
Almost  immediately  he  supplanted  his  brother  in 
the  affections  of  his  wife,  and,  a  quarrel  taking  place 
between  the  two  men,  Patrick  was  forbidden  to  come 
to  the  house.  Shortly  afterwards  the  husband  died, 
having  shown  symptoms  of  irritant  poisoning. 

According  to  the  story  of  the  prosecution,  Katharine 
told  a  woman  named  Clark,  who  lived  in  the  house 
with  them,  that  Patrick  had  undertaken  to  procure 
poison  for  her,  and  that  she  was  going  to  give  it  to 
her  husband. 

An  unsigned  letter  to  Patrick  Ogilvie,  alleged  to  be 
in  the  writing  of  Katharine,  with  reference  to  the 
poison,  was  put  in  as  evidence. 

Testimony  was  also  given  by  a  surgeon  of  Brechin 


184         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

that  Lieutenant  Ogilvie  had  obtained  from  him  a 
small  phial  of  laudanum  which  he  said  he  required 
for  his  own  health,  and  also  half  an  ounce  of  powdered 
arsenic  for  the  alleged  purpose  of  killing  some  dogs 
that  destroyed  his  game. 

These  he  had  sent  to  Katharine,  who  was  believed 
to  have  put  the  arsenic  in  her  husband's  tea. 

The  defence  was  that  the  deceased  had  died  a 
natural  death,  and  that  Katharine  Nairn  was  in  the 
habit  of  taking  small  doses  of  laudanum  and  of  salts 
for  her  health.  Expert  evidence  was  given  on  her 
behalf  by  a  Dr.  J.  Scott  to  the  effect  that  "he  had 
made  experiments  upon  arsenic  and  knew  well  that 
it  would  not  dissolve  in  warm  water." 

The  evidence,  which  by  the  way  is  incorrect,  went 
to  prove  that  even  if  arsenic  had  been  introduced  into 
the  tea  it  could  not  have  caused  death  by  poisoning. 

A  surgeon  also  gave  evidence  that  the  symptoms 
might  have  arisen  from  natural  causes. 

For  the  prosecution  no  proof  of  the  powder  being 
arsenic  or  that  the  husband  had  really  died  of  arsenical 
poisoning  was  given,  and  no  post-mortem  examination 
was  made. 

The  counsel  for  the  defence  put  the  position  in  the 
following  form  :  "  The  incest  is  supposed  to  be  certain 
because  the  husband  is  supposed  to  have  been  poisoned 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  man  is  believed  to  have 
been  poisoned,  because  there  is  supposed  proof  of 
incest." 

Both  prisoners  were  found  guilty  and  sentenced  to 
death,  but  the  execution  was  delayed  pending  an  appeal 
to    the    Privy  Council   in    London.      The   sentences 


EARLY  POISONING  TRIALS  185 

were  confirmed  and  Patrick  Ogilvie  was  executed  in 
November,  but  Mrs.  Ogilvie,  who  was  expecting  the 
birth  of  a  child,  was  kept  in  prison.  A  daughter  was 
born  early  in  1766,  and  Katharine  Nairn  managed  to 
escape  from  prison  in  March  of  that  year. 

The  trial  curiously  foreshadowed  the  trial  of  Mrs. 
Maybrick  a  century  later  in  many  of  its  features, 
and,  as  in  the  modern  case,  convincing  proof  of  guilt 
was  wanting. 

The  question  whether  a  particular  substance  is  or 
is  not  a  poison  has  frequently  been  raised  in  a  court 
of  justice,  and  on  several  occasions  a  prisoner  has 
owed  his  acquittal  to  a  conflict  of  scientific  opinion 
upon  the  point. 

This  was  the  case  in  a  trial  that  took  place  in 
1836,  at  the  Norwich  Assizes,  when  two  farm  labourers 
were  charged  with  having  attempted  to  poison  a 
fellow  farm  servant,  by  putting  "  a  deadly  poison," 
blue  vitriol  (copper  sulphate),  into  a  glass  of  milk.  The 
man  noticed  that  the  milk  had  a  metallic  taste  and  only 
drank  a  portion  of  it ;  but  this  was  sufficient  to  make 
him  ill  for  a  short  time.  On  the  milk  being  examined 
it  was  found  to  contain  copper  sulphate,  and  suspicion 
pointed  to  its  having  been  doctored  by  the  prisoners. 

The  counsel  for  the  defence  raised  the  objection 
that  the  accused  were  indicted  for  having  administered 
a  "  deadly  "  poison,  and  that  medical  opinion  did  not 
hold  that  blue  vitriol  was  a  deadly  poison. 

A  medical  witness  called  on  behalf  of  the  prosecu- 
tion stated  that  he  considered  that  copper  sulphate 
was  a  deadly  poison,  but  at  the  same  time  admitted 


186         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

that  he  had  no  experience  of  any  case  of  poisoning  in 
which  that  salt  had  been  taken. 

On  the  other  hand,  another  doctor  asserted  that  in 
his  opinion  the  substance  was  not  poisonous,  and 
pointed  out  that  it  was  not  sold  as  a  poison. 

The  judge,  taking  into  account  this  conflict  of 
opinion,  decided  that  the  matter  was  doubtful  and  the 
prisoners  were  acquitted. 

In  the  Offences  Against  the  Person  Act  of  1861  it  is 
provided  that  any  attempt  to  administer  any  poison 
or  other  destructive  thing  to  any  person  whether 
bodily  injury  be  effected  or  not  is  guilty  of  a  felony. 

As  copper  sulphate,  when  taken  in  quantity,  will 
certainly  cause  bodily  injury,  the  case  tried  in  1836 
at  Norwich,  would  now  probably  be  decided  differently, 
even  though  no  bodily  harm  had  actually  been 
caused. 

This  is  borne  out  by  the  trial  of  Cluderay,  on  the 
charge  of  attempted  poisoning  by  administering  pods 
of  coculus  indicus. 

No  harm  had  resulted  to  the  intended  victim  owing 
to  the  fact  that  although  the  berries  themselves  are 
poisonous,  the  pod  in  which  they  are  contained,  is 
insoluble  when  swallowed,  and  this  prevents  the 
berries  from  producing  their  toxic  effects  upon  the 
system. 

It  was  decided  by  the  judge, .  however,  that  the 
giving  of  the  entire  pod  was  an  administration  of  poison 
within  the  meaning  of  the  Act. 

It  is  not  an  easy  matter  to  find  a  suitable  definition 
for  a  poison.  According  to  Taylor  it  is  "a  substance 
which,  when  taken  into  the  mouth  or  stomach,  or 


EARLY  POISONING  TRIALS  187 

when  absorbed  into  the  blood  is  capable  of  seriously 
affecting  health  or  of  destroying  life  by  its  action  on 
the  tissues  with  which  it  immediately,  or  after 
absorption,  comes  into  contact." 

As  applied  to  criminal  cases  this  definition  is  obviously 
open  to  criticism,  for  it  is  applicable  to  a  substance  such 
as  coffee  which,  when  taken  in  excess,  will  "  seriously 
affect  the  health."  Some  reference  to  the  quantity  is 
therefore  needed.  A  drug,  such  as  morphia,  may  be 
of  benefit  when  given  in  small  doses,  but  becomes  a 
poison  when  given  in  large  quantity.  In  the  case  of 
Cluderay,  however,"  it  could  hardly  be  contended  that 
the  administration  of  entire  coculus  pods,  although 
not  producing  injurious  results,  could  in  any  way 
be  beneficial. 

The  trial*  :>f  Tawell  at  the  Aylesbury  Assizes  in  1845, 
on  the  charge  of  murdering  Sarah  Hart  at  Slough, 
presented  several  points  of  scientific  interest. 

The  manner  in  which  the  electric  telegraph  was 
employed  in  effecting  his  capture  has  been  described 
in  another  place. 

At  the  trial  Tawell  denied  that  he  had  ever  been  to 
Slough  at  all,  but  the  woman  who  had  heard  the 
screams  of  the  victim  had  seen  and  spoken  with  him, 
and  swore  positively  to  his  identity. 

It  was  proved  that  on  the  day  of  the  murder  Tawell 
had  bought  some  Scheele's  prussic  acid  in  London, 
but  he  accounted  for  this  by  the  fact  that  he  was 
constantly  in  the  habit  of  buying  the  poison  for 
external  use. 

In  the  cottage,  where  the  woman  was  found  lying 
dead  when  the  doctor  arrived,  were  two  empty  tumblers 


188         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

and  a  bottle  of  porter,  while  a  small  amount  of  prussic 
acid  was  found  in  the  stomach  of  the  woman. 

The  counsel  for  the  defence  urged  that  there  was; 
no  proof  that  the  woman  had  died  from  the  effects- 
of  prussic  acid  and  that  some  sudden  emotion  might1 
have  been  the  cause  of  death. 

As  to  the  prussic  acid  found  in  the  body,  he  sug- 
gested that  it  might  have  been  derived  from 
apple-pips  eaten  by  the  deceased. 

Chemical  evidence,  however,  was  brought  forward 
to  prove  that  prussic  acid  could  not  have  been  formed 
as  suggested  in  the  process  of  digestion,  and  the  only, 
result  of  this  novel  defence  was  that  for  long  after- 
wards the  barrister  was  known  as  "  Apple-pip  Kelly." 

In  his  summing  up  of  the  evidence  the  judge,  Baron 
Parker,  said  with  reference  to  one  of  the  contentions 
of  the  prisoner's  counsel :  "If  the  evidence  satisfies 
you  that  the  death  was  occasioned  by  poison,  and  that 
poison  was  administered  by  the  prisoner  it  is  not 
necessary  to  give  direct  and  positive  proof  of  what  is 
the  quantity  which  would  destroy  life,  nor  is  it  neces- 
sary to  prove  that  such  quantity  was  found  in  tl 
body  of  the  deceased,  if  the  other  facts  lead  you 
the  conclusion  that  the  death  was  occasioned  by  poise 
and  that  it  was  knowingly  administered  by  tl 
prisoner." 

Referring  to  the  argument  that  there  was  no  proof 
that  the  deceased  might  not  have  died  from  the  effect 
of  a  sudden  emotion  he  pointed  out  that  they  were  not 
to  have  recourse  to  mere  conjecture ;  that  where  the 
result  of  the  evidence  gave  them  the  existence  of  a 
cause  to  which  the  death  might  be  rationally  attributed 


EARLY  POISONING  TRIALS  189 

they  were  not  to  suppose  without  a  reason  for  doing 
so,  that  it  was  to  be  attributed  to  any  other  cause. 

As  has  already  been  mentioned,  the  evidence 
convinced  the  jury  of  the  guilt  of  the  prisoner,  and 
he  was  sentenced  to  death. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

NOTABLE   POISONING  TRIALS 

Use  of  Poisons — Arsenic  and  Antimony — Chapman  Case — 
Strychnine  in  Palmer  Trial — Physiological  Tests — Case  of 
Freeman — Error  from  Quantitative  Deductions — Poisonous 
Food  Given  to  Animals — Mary  Higgins — Negative  Result 
of  Physiological  Tests — Hyoscyamus  Poisons — Crippen 
Case — Experiment  on  Cats — Time  Limit  for  Action  of 
Arsenic — French  Case. 

The  use  of  poisons  but  little  known  at  the  time  has 
generally  been  due  to  a  special  knowledge  of  their 
properties  on  the  part  of  the  poisoner,  who  has  hoped 
in  this  way  to  escape  detection,  and,  in  fact,  has 
often  done  so. 

Arsenic,  which  has  always  been  a  favourite  with 
ignorant  poisoners,  is  cumulative  in  its  action,  and 
remains  in  the  system  for  a  long  time  after  it  has 
been  taken.  It  has  a  remarkable  preservative  eft 
upon  the  tissues,  which  it  will  keep  for  an  indefini 
length  of  time  from  decomposition.  There  is,  the: 
fore,  little  difficulty  in  detecting  and  identifying  it 
a  body  years  after  a  crime  has  been  committed. 

The  effect  of  antimony  is  very  similar,  and  it  was 
owing  to  this  fact  that  it  was  possible  in  the  Chap- 
man poisoning  case  to  prove  that  some  of  the  victims 
had  been  poisoned  with  antimony. 

Organic  poisons  such  as  prussic  acid  and  vegetable 
alkaloids  are  much  less  stable  in  character,  though 

190 


NOTABLE  POISONING  TRIALS  191 

they  are  not  so  fugitive  as  some  poisoners  have  sup- 
posed, and  the  presence  of  alkaloidal  poisons  in  the 
system  has  been  proved  months  after  death. 

In  the  celebrated  Palmer  case,  to  which  reference 
has  already  been  made,  Palmer,  who  was  a  doctor, 
made  use  of  strychnine,  and,  although  he  was  con- 
victed upon  the  medical  and  other  evidence,  Taylor, 
the  official  analyst,  was  unable  to  detect  the  poison 
iii  the  remains.  On  these  grounds  and  the  evidence 
of  other  chemists  who  asserted  that  they  could  detect 
the  slightest  trace  of  strychnine,  and  that  had  that 
poison  been  given  it  must  have  passed  into  the 
system,  the  defence  was  set  up  that  no  strychnine 
had  been  given,  and  that  the  prisoner  was  entitled 
to  an  acquittal. 

All  that  can  be  fairly  deduced  from  the  chemical 
evidence,  however,  is  that  no  very  large  amount  of 
strychnine  was  present,  and  that  the  method  of 
separating  alkaloids  used  by  Taylor  half  a  century 
ago  was  not  capable  of  detecting  traces  of  strychnine. 
So  far,  then,  as  regards  chemical  analysis,  Palmer  had 
succeeded  in  administering  a  poison  in  sufficient 
quantity  to  kill,  but  to  escape  detection. 

With  the  more  delicate  methods  of  analysis  now  at 
the  disposal  of  the  chemist  this  would  no  longer  be 
possible,  for  it  has  been  repeatedly  proved  that  it  is 
possible  to  detect  a  minute  trace  of  that  alkaloid 
in  the  body  many  months  after  death. 

The  other  details  of  this  case  are  interesting  as 
forming  a  very  complete  chain  of  evidence. 

Palmer,  as  has  been  mentioned,  was  a  medical 
man  living  at  Rugeley,  where  he  had  formerly  had  a 


192         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

practice.  For  some  time  prior  to  the  trial  he  had 
given  up  medicine  and  devoted  himself  to  horse- 
racing,  with  the  result  that  he  had  lost  heavily,  and 
by  the  summer  of  1855  owed  about  £20,000,  which 
he  had  borrowed  at  an  exorbitant  rate  of  interest 
from  different  moneylenders. 

As  security  for  these  amounts  he  had  given  pro- 
missory notes,  in  which  he  had  forged  the  signature 
of  his  mother.  It  was  his  intention  to  have  paid  the 
most  pressing  of  his  creditors  out  of  the  proceeds  of 
an  insurance  upon  the  life  of  his  brother,  who  died 
in  August  of  the  same  year. 

The  insurance  company,  however,  from  certain 
circumstances  that  had  reached  their  ears,  had  a 
suspicion  of  fraud  in  connection  with  this  policy, 
and  refused  to  pay  the  sum  insured. 

The  holders  of  the  bills,  therefore,  prepared  writs 
against  Palmer  and  his  mother,  which  were  to  be 
issued  unless  they  received  the  promised  money,  and 
it  was,  therefore,  a  matter  of  urgency  for  Palmer  to 
find  a  means  of  satisfying  them. 

Early  in  November  he  went  to  some  races  a 
Shrewsbury  in  company  with  a  young  man  namec 
Cook,  and  the  latter  won  between  £2,000  and  £3,000 
some  £800  of  which  he  received  upon  the  race-course 
leaving  the  balance  to  be  paid  in  London. 

To  celebrate  the  occasion,  Cook  asked  a  numbe 
of   his   friends   to   dine   with   him   at   the   hotel 
Shrewsbury.     That    evening    Palmer    was    observe 
holding  a  tumbler  up  to  the  light  outside  his  bed- 
room, and  he  then  went  into  the  other  room  when 
Cook  was  talking  to  his  friends. 


: 

3d 


NOTABLE  POISONING  TRIALS  193 

After  drinking  some  brandy,  Cook  became  violently 
ill,  and  a  doctor  was  sent  for.  Cook  said  he  had  been 
given  something  by  Palmer,  and  gave  his  money  into 
the  charge  of  one  of  his  friends,  who  next  day 
returned  it  to  him. 

Notwithstanding  his  suspicions,  Cook  returned  with 
Palmer  to  Rugeley,  and  put  up  at  an  inn  there  near 
Palmer's  house.  He  was  there  visited  several  times 
by  Palmer,  who  gave  him  coffee  and  broth,  both  of 
which  made  him  violently  sick.  He  was  attended 
by  a  local  medical  man,  who  was  very  old,  and,  acting 
on  Palmer's  suggestion,  this  doctor  prescribed  morphine 
pills  for  the  sick  man. 

Palmer  went  with  the  doctor  to  his  surgery,  helped 
him  in  the  preparation  of  the  pills,  and  undertook  to 
see  that  the  patient  took  them.  Accordingly  he  went 
round  to  the  inn  the  same  night,  and  persuaded 
Cook,  who  was  unwilling  to  have  anything  to  do 
with  them,  to  take  the  pills.  Within  fifteen  minutes 
he  had  died,  after  showing  all  the  symptoms  of 
strychnine  poisoning. 

After  Cook's  death,  his  stepfather  came  to  Rugeley, 
and  made  inquiries  as  to  the  cause  of  death.  Certain 
circumstances  drew  suspicion  upon  Palmer,  and  this 
was  strengthened  when  it  was  found  that  on  several 
occasions  he  had  bought  strychnine,  and  that  imme- 
diately after  Cook's  death  he  had  been  seen  examining 
his  pockets  and  searching  under  the  pillow  of  the  bed. 

When  asked  whether  there  were  not  some  sporting 
debts  due  to  Cook,  he  denied  that  there  were  any, 
and  it  was  significant  that  the  betting  book  of  the 
deceased  man  had  disappeared. 

13— (2121) 


194         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

It  was  further  discovered  that  Palmer  had  since 
the  death  paid  over  considerable  sums  of  money  to 
his  creditors,  and  that  he  had  induced  the  old  doctor 
who  had  been  in  attendance  upon  Cook  to  sign  a 
certificate  giving  apoplexy  as  the  cause  of  death. 

A  post-mortem  examination  was  held,  at  which 
Palmer,  although  under  suspicion,  was  allowed  to  be 
present.  When  the  portion  of  the  stomach  was  sealed 
up  in  a  bottle,  Palmer  removed  it  to  another  part  of 
the  room  while  the  attention  of  the  doctors  was  other- 
wise occupied,  and  it  was  found  that  he  had  cut  two 
slits  in  the  parchment  cover,  and  had  attempted  to 
get  rid  of  the  contents.  Subsequently  he  offered  a 
bribe  of  £10  to  the  driver  who  was  to  take  the 
doctors  to  the  station  if  he  would  upset  the  carriage 
and  break  the  jar. 

The  evidence  of  the  doctors  called  by  the  Crown 
left  little  doubt  as  to  death  having  been  caused  by 
strychnine  poison,  and  although  a  number  of  medical 
men  gave  evidence  on  behalf  of  Palmer,  their  opinions 
were  conflicting  and  inconsistent,  and,  as  the  judge 
pointed  out,  were  obviously  aiming  at  an  acquittal 
at  all  cost. 

After  a  trial  lasting  twelve  days,  the  judge  (Lord 
Campbell)  summed  up  the  evidence,  and  dwelt  in 
strong  terms  upon  the  scientific  witnesses  for  the 
defence  (see  ante,  p.  19).  With  reference  to  the 
fact  that  no  strychnine  had  been  detected  in  the  body, 
he  remarked  that  "  there  was  no  rule  of  law  according 
to  which  the  poison  must  be  found  in  the  body  of 
the  deceased,  and  all  they  knew  respecting  the  poison 
not  being  found  in  the  body  was  that  in  that  part  of 


NOTABLE  POISONING  TRIALS  195 

the  body  that  was  analysed  by  the  witnesses  no 
strychnia  had  been  found." 

Since  physiological  tests  are,  in  many  cases,  much 
more  sensitive  than  chemical  tests,  they  have  often 
been  used  for  the  identification  of  traces  of  poison 
isolated  from  a  body.  Thus  a  small  quantity  of  a 
particular  alkaloid  will  produce  certain  characteristic 
physiological  results  when  injected  into  the  circula- 
tory system  of  a  small  animal,  and  should  precisely 
the  same  results  be  obtained  by  the  injection  of  the 
unknown  substance,  the  obvious  inference  to  be 
drawn  is  that  the  two  substances  are  identical. 

At  the  same  time  it  has  been  shown  on  more  than 
one  occasion  that  it  is  not  justifiable  to  draw  a  com- 
parison between  the  quantitative  action  of  a 
particular  poison  upon  an  animal  and  upon 
man. 

As  an  instance  of  the  danger  of  relying  too  exclu- 
sively upon  the  results  of  experiments  upon  an  animal, 
the  interesting  case  of  Freeman,  who  was  tried  at 
Leicester  in  1829,  may  be  mentioned.  A  young 
woman,  the  servant  of  a  chemist  in  the  town,  was 
found  dead  in  bed.  She  had  evidently  died  from  the 
effects  of  prussic  acid,  and  from  the  fact  that  the 
one  ounce  bottle  from  which  the  poison  had  been 
taken  still  contained  three  and  a  half  drachms,  it  was 
inferred  that  she  had  taken  four  and  a  half 
drachms. 

Owing  to  the  facts  that  the  arms  of  the  dead 
woman  were  crossed  upon  her  breast,  and  that  the 
clothes  had  been  pulled  up  neatly  over  them,  while 
the  bottle  containing  the  remainder  of  the  poison  had 


196         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

been  re-corked  and  was  lying  by  her  side,  it  was 
thought  that  it  was  not  a  case  of  suicide,  but  that 
the  poison  must  have  been  given  to  her. 

Suspicion  fell  upon  a  young  man  named  Freeman, 
who  was  an  assistant  of  the  chemist,  and  he  was 
charged  with  having  murdered  the  woman. 

The  point  urged  by  the  prosecution  was  that  the 
action  of  prussic  acid  was  so  rapid,  that  it  was 
impossible  for  the  woman  to  have  had  the  time  to 
take  the  amount  which  had  apparently  been  taken, 
and  subsequently  to  have  arranged  the  bed-clothes 
and  corked  the  bottle. 

Expert  evidence  upon  this  question  was  given  by 
five  doctors,  four  of  whom  gave  as  their  opinion  that 
these  things  could  not  have  been  done  by  the  woman 
herself.  In  support  of  their  view,  one  of  them  stated 
that  the  same  quantity  of  prussic  acid  had  killed  a 
dog  in  three  seconds. 

Fortunately  for  the  prisoner  he  was  able  to  pro- 
duce conclusive  evidence  of  his  innocence,  and  the 
jury,  therefore,  very  rightly  refused  to  accept  the 
medical  opinion. 

Cases  in  which  scientific  evidence  has  been  given 
to  prove  that  a  particular  portion  of  food  or  drink  is 
of  a  poisonous  nature,  as  shown  by  its  effects  upon 
animals,  have  frequently  been  before  the  Courts,  and 
the  evidence  is  not  so  open  to  criticism  as  in  Free- 
man's case,  although,  at  best,  such  a  proof  is  far  less 
satisfactory  than  the  separation  and  identification  of 
the  poison  by  chemical  means. 

In  one  trial,  however,  described  by  Taylor,  which 
took  place  in  the  early  part  of  last  century  in  the 


NOTABLE  POISONING  TRIALS  197 

West  of  England,  the  evidence  supplied  by  the  acci- 
dental poisoning  of  some  animals  was  so  convincing 
as  to  prove  the  prisoner  guilty,  although  chemical 
evidence  of  the  presence  of  poisoning  was  wanting. 

A  farmer's  wife  was  accused  of  having  poisoned  her 
husband  by  putting  arsenic  into  his  soup  while  they 
were  dining  together.  Then,  in  order  to  get  rid  of 
all  signs  of  her  guilt,  she  had  thrown  the  remainder 
of  the  soup  into  the  farmyard,  where  the  pigs  and  the 
fowls  had  devoured  it.  The  husband  had  died  with 
all  the  symptoms  and  appearances  of  arsenical  poison- 
ing, but  no  arsenic  was  found  in  the  body  by  the 
imperfect  methods  of  analysis  then  available. 

All  the  animals  in  the  farmyard  had  also  died, 
apparently  from  the  effects  of  an  irritant  poison,  and 
in  the  bodies  of  some  of  them,  probably  owing  to  its 
quantity  being  greater,  arsenic  was  found. 

The  evidence  as  to  these  facts,  which  was  put  for- 
ward at  the  trial,  was  regarded  by  the  jury  as  con- 
clusive proof  that  poison  had  been  given  to  the  man, 
notwithstanding  the  objections  pressed  by  the  defence 
that  the  poison  had  not  been  found  in  his  body,  and 
that,  since  none  of  the  soup  was  left  for  examination, 
it  had  not  been  proved  that  the  soup  was  poisonous. 

With  the  more  refined  methods  of  analysis  now 
available,  such  evidence  would  probably  have  been 
corroborated,  seeing  that  the  tests  are  capable  of 
detecting  arsenic  even  in  the  minute  proportion  of 
one  part  in  sixty  millions. 

In  a  remarkable  trial  that  took  place,  in  1831, 
at  the  Warwick  Assizes,  expert  evidence  that  an 
animal   had  not   been   poisoned  supplied   the   proof 


198         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

required  to  establish  the  guilt  of  the  prisoner.  A 
woman  named  Mary  Higgins  was  accused  of  having 
poisoned  her  uncle  with  arsenic.  It  was  proved  that 
he  had  died  from  an  irritant  poison,  and  there  was 
also  abundant  proof  that  the  niece  had  bought 
arsenic.  Her  explanation  of  this  was  that  she  had 
wanted  it  to  destroy  vermin,  and  by  way  of  adding 
conviction  to  her  story  she  actually  produced  a  dead 
mouse,  which,  she  alleged,  had  been  killed  by  the 
poison.  This  proved  a  fatal  blunder  on  her  part, 
for  an  examination  of  the  mouse  showed  that  there 
was  no  arsenic  whatever  in  its  body.  The  defence 
was  therefore  discredited,  and  the  prisoner  was 
found  guilty  of  murder. 

The  most  valuable  applications  of  physiological 
tests  have  been  in  cases  where  narcotic  poisons 
have  been  used,  and  especially  in  the  early  days  of 
chemical  analyses,  when  the  methods  then  known 
were  incapable  of  identifying  these  poisons. 

For  example,  in  the  year  1838  a  woman  was  tried 
at  Liverpool  on  a  charge  of  having  sent  a  poisoned 
pudding  to  another  woman  with  the  intention  of 
poisoning  her.  The  two  children  who  were  sent  with 
the  pudding  tasted  it  on  the  way,  and  finding  that  it 
was  bitter,  mentioned  the  fact  to  the  woman  to  whom 
they  were  taking  it.  She  had  other  reasons  for  being 
suspicious,  and,  therefore,  sent  the  pudding  to  a 
doctor  to  be  examined.  He  applied  various  tests, 
but  was  unable  to  detect  the  presence  of  any  poison, 
although  from  the  taste  he  suspected  that  some 
narcotic  poison  was  present. 

Accordingly,  he  gave  a  small  portion  of  the  pudding 


NOTABLE  POISONING  TRIALS  199 

to  a  dog,  with  the  result  that  the  animal  died  within 
three  hours  with  all  the  symptoms  of  poisoning  pro- 
duced by  a  narcotic  poison.  On  the  strength  of  this 
evidence,  the  prisoner  was  found  guilty. 

A  French  poisoning  trial  which  took  place  in  the 
early  part  of  last  century  is  especially  interesting 
from  the  fact  that  it  is  apparently  the  only  recorded 
instance,  prior  to  the  recent  notorious  Crippen  case, 
in  which  the  deadly  plant,  henbane,  was  the  original 
source  of  the  poison. 

In  the  French  case  a  child  had  been  poisoned  by 
some  broth,  and  the  symptoms  had  suggested  the 
presence  of  a  narcotic  poison.  The  chemical  analysis 
of  alkaloidal  poisons  was  at  that  time  in  its  infancy, 
and  in  order  to  obtain  proof  of  the  poisonous  character 
of  the  broth,  some  of  the  meat  remaining  in  it  was 
given  to  a  cat.  The  animal  died  in  about  five  hours, 
and  the  symptoms  produced  and  the  appearance  of 
its  body  after  death  were  all  similar  to  those  observed 
in  the  child. 

The  evidence  was  therefore  regarded  as  corrobora- 
tive proof  that  the  plant  henbane  had  been  introduced 
into  the  broth. 

In  the  present  state  of  chemical  analysis  proof 
would  have  been  expected  of  the  presence  of  the  active 
principles  of  henbane  (hyoscine  and  hyoscyamine)  in 
the  broth  and  in  the  body  of  the  victim,  and  physio- 
logical tests  would  probably  only  have  been  accepted 
as  supplying  additional  proof  of  the  identity  of  the 
poison. 

A  striking  example  of  the  way  in  which  the  scientific 
evidence  may  succeed  in  establishing  the  innocence  of 


V 


200  SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

a  person  accused  of  murder  is  seen  in  the  following 
case,  which  was  tried  in  1835  : — A  woman,  who  had 
a  violent  disposition  and  was  subject  to  attacks  of 
hysteria,  accused  her  husband  of  having  attempted 
to  poison  her,  and  in  proof  of  her  charge  produced  a 
white  powder,  which,  as  she  alleged,  he  had  put  into 
her  food.  The  powder  was  found  to  be  white  arsenic, 
and  the  food  on  examination  was  found  to  contain 
a  fatal  quantity  of  that  poison.  The  husband  was 
therefore  immediately  arrested  and  kept  in  prison 
pending  the  investigation. 

The  woman  was  perfectly  well  for  eight  days,  but 
on  the  ninth  day  became  very  violent,  and  did 
many  eccentric  things,  and  on  the  next  day  she  died. 
Examination  of  the  body  showed  that  arsenic  had 
been  the  cause  of  death.  Her  husband  denied  that 
he  had  ever  put  any  arsenic  into  her  food,  but  had  it 
not  been  for  the  scientific  evidence  he  would  probably 
have  been  unable  to  prove  that  he  was  innocent. 

Undoubtedly  he  owed  his  escape  to  his  having  been 
in  prison  for  the  eight  days  between  the  accusation 
brought  by  his  wife  and  her  death,  for  the  medical 
witnesses  proved  that  it  was  not  possible  for  him  to 
have  given  the  dose  of  arsenic  which  caused  the  death 
of  the  woman,  since  the  effects  of  arsenic  could  not 
have  remained  latent  in  the  system  for  that  length  of 
time. 

Circumstances,  therefore,  indicated  that  the  woman 
had  committed  suicide,  and  on  the  strength  of  this 
evidence  the  prisoner  was  immediately  set  at 
liberty. 

To  come  to  more  recent  times,  the  most  notable 


NOTABLE  POISONING  TRIALS  201 

trial  in  which  the  results  of  experiments  upon  animals 
have  formed  one  of  the  strongest  links  in  the  evidence 
against  the  prisoner,  was  that  of  George  Henry 
Lamson,  in  1881,  who  was  convicted  of  poisoning  his 
brother-in-law. 

Here  again  the  accused  was  a  medical  man,  who 
was  able  by  reason  of  his  specialised  knowledge  to 
use  a  poison  that  at  the  time  would  not  readily  be 
identified  in  the  body  after  death.  In  fact,  in  the 
opinion  of  Montagu  Williams,  who  defended  him  at 
the  trial,  there  could  be  but  little  doubt  but  that  he 
had  previously  poisoned  a  brother  of  his  victim  in 
the  same  manner,  without  incurring  any  suspicion. 

He  was  a  young  man  twenty-nine  years  of  age,  in 
practice  in  a  small  way  at  Bournemouth.  He  was 
not  well  off  and  had  been  in  pecuniary  straits,  and, 
as  it  was  known  at  the  trial,  would  have  benefited 
materially  by  the  death  of  his  brother-in-law,  Percy 
John,  a  lad  of  nineteen,  who  was  at  a  school  in 
Wimbledon. 

Percy  was  a  cripple,  and  had  to  be  carried  up  and 
down-stairs,  and  to  be  wheeled  about  in  a  chair,  but 
there  was  no  reason  why  he  should  not  have  lived  to 
old  age. 

The  story  told  by  the  prosecution  was  that  Dr. 
Lamson  wrote  to  his  brother-in-law,  telling  him  he 
was  coming  to  see  him  at  the  school  on  his  way  over 
to  Paris,  and  the  boy  was  disappointed  on  receiving 
a  message  that  he  could  not  come  till  the  next  day. 
On  December  3rd,  however,  Lamson  called  at  the 
school,  and  said  that  he  had  only  time  to  pay  a  flying 
visit  before  catching  the  night  train  to  Paris. 


202         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

He  produced  some  gelatine  capsules,  and  also  a 
cake.  Taking  one  of  these  he  remarked  to 
the  schoolmaster,  who  was  present  throughout  the 
interview,  that  he  would  leave  them  with  him,  so  that 
he  might  give  nasty  medicines  to  his  pupils  without 
difficulty.  He  then  filled  one  of  the  capsules  from  a 
basin  of  sugar  that  was  on  the  table,  and  turning  to 
the  boy,  said:  "  Here,  Percy,  you're  a  swell  pill-taker; 
take  this,  and  show  Mr.  Bedbrook  how  easily  it  may  be 
swallowed/' 

Dr.  Lamson  had  also  brought  with  him  some  sweets 
and  a  cake,  and  he  gave  slices  of  this  to  the  school- 
master and  to  his  young  brother-in-law,  and  also  ate 
a  piece  himself. 

Immediately  after  the  lad  had  swallowed  the  cap- 
sule Lamson  observed :  u  That's  soon  gone,  my 
boy,"  and  then  remarked,  "  I  must  be  going 
now." 

He  then  left  with  the  intention  of  catching  the 
evening  boat-train  to  Paris.  Very  shortly  afterwards 
Percy  became  ill  and  told  the  schoolmaster  that  he 
felt  exactly  as  he  did  four  months  before  when  his 
brother-in-law  had  given  him  a  pill.  Doctors  were 
summoned,  but  in  spite  of  everything  that  was  done 
the  poor  boy  died  the  same  evening.  A  medical 
examination  of  the  body  showed  no  appearance  of  any 
disease  that  could  have  resulted  in  such  sudden  death, 
but  a  chemical  examination  of  the  stomach,  which 
was  made  by  Dr.  Stevenson  and  Dr.  Dupre,  proved 
that  a  vegetable  irritant  poison  must  have  been  the 
cause  of  death. 

Investigations   showed    that    on   several   occasions 


NOTABLE  POISONING  TRIALS  203 

Dr.  Lamson  had  purchased  small  quantities  of  aconi- 
tine  from  different  chemists,  and  this  strengthened 
the.  suspicions  already  attaching  to  him. 

A  few  days  later  Lamson  returned  from  Paris  and 
voluntarily  went  to  Scotland  Yard,  saying  that 
as  his  name  had  been  mentioned  in  connection  with 
the  case  he  had  thought  it  best  to  call  and  see  what 
was  to  be  done  about  it.  He  was  then  arrested  and 
formally  charged  with  causing  the  death. 

The  trial  was  memorable  for  the  conclusive  nature 
of  the  scientific  evidence.  The  cake  and  sweets  had 
been  analysed  and  found  to  be  quite  free  from  aconite 
and  the  gelatine  capsules  were  also  proved  to  be 
innocuous.  At  the  bottom  of  the  boy's  box  a  pill-box 
had  been  discovered  containing  pills  in  which  aconitine 
was  present,  but  although  the  point  was  suggested  by 
the  defence,  there  was  no  evidence  to  show  that  the 
boy  had  secretly  taken  one  of  these. 

The  presence  of  morphia  and  aconitine  in  the  body 
was  proved,  the  latter  being  identified  by  its  general 
chemical  reactions  as  an  alkaloid,  by  the  burning 
sensation  produced  upon  the  tongue,  and  by  its  charac- 
teristic action  upon  mice,  as  compared  with  that  of 
a  standard  solution  of  pure  aconitine.  In  each  case 
the  animals  died,  the  symptoms  being  the  same  and 
characteristic  of  aconitine  poisoning. 

For  the  defence  it  was  urged  by*  Montagu  Williams 
that  it  was  admitted  by  the  scientific  witnesses  for 
the  prosecution  that  they  had  no  other  proof  of  the 
identity  of  aconitine  than  these  physiological  tests 
upon  mice  ;  that  their  conclusions  were  a  leap  in  the 
dark  ;    and  that  mice  had  so  delicate  a  constitution 


204         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

that  even  an  injection  of  pure  water  would  kill  them. 
How  then  could  it  fairly  be  argued  that  because  these 
little  animals  had  been  killed  by  an  injection  of  a 
substance  extracted  from  the  body,  that  substance 
must  be  aconitine  ?  Apart  from  that,  bodies  of  the 
nature  of  alkaloids  were  formed  in  the  body  by  decom- 
position, and  the  effects  upon  the  mice  attributed  to 
aconitine  might  very  well  have  been  caused  by  one 
of  these  alkaloids. 

It  was  further  pointed  out  that  there  had  been  no 
opportunity  of  giving  the  boy  a  pill  without  the  know- 
ledge of  the  schoolmaster,  and  that  the  prisoner  could 
not  have  charged  the  capsule  with  aconitine  without 
having  been  observed. 

The  evidence  put  forward  by  the  prosecution 
carried  conviction  to  the  jury,  and  the  prisoner  was 
found  guilty  and  sentenced  to  death. 

With  reference  to  the  more  important  points  raised 
by  the  defence  it  may  be  mentioned  that  no  known 
ptomaine  (i.e.,  alkaloid  formed  by  decomposition  in  the 
body  after  death)  produces  the  same  physiological  effects 
as  aconitine,  and  that  the  conclusions  of  Dr.  Stevenson 
and  Dr.  Dupre  were  based  upon  the  results  of  com- 
parative tests,  which  showed  that  as  little  as  2  q0  q 
grain  of  aconitine  could  be  recognised  in  this  way. 

The  probable  solution  of  the  mystery  of  how  the 
prisoner  managed  to  give  the  poison  to  the  boy  is 
suggested  in  the  reminiscences  of  Lord  Brampton,  who, 
as  Sir  Henry  Hawkins,  was  the  presiding  judge  at 
the  trial.  He  points  out  that  Lamson  was  far  too 
clever  a  man  to  attempt  such  a  clumsy  plan  as  to 
charge   the   capsule  with   aconitine,  and  thus   draw 


NOTABLE  POISONING  TRIALS  205 

suspicion  upon  himself.  The  much  more  plausible 
theory  is  that  the  capsules  had  nothing  whatever  to 
do  with  the  poisoning  but  that  Lamson  had  previously 
put  the  aconitine  into  a  raisin  in  the  cake,  and  had 
taken  care  that  his  young  brother-in-law  should  get 
the  slice  containing  that  raisin,  while  he  and  the  school- 
master had  eaten  other  portions  of  the  otherwise 
harmless  cake. 

After  sentence  of  death  had  been  passed,  Lamson 
stood  with  his  arms  folded  and  in  a  loud  voice  pro- 
claimed his  innocence  before  God.  Before  his  execu- 
tion, however,  it  is  stated  that  he  confessed  that  he 
had  not  only  poisoned  Percy  John,  but  also  his  other 
brother-in-law  Herbert. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE   MAYBRICK   CASE 

Few  trials  in  this  country  have  aroused  so  much 
controversy  as  that  of  Mrs.  Maybrick,  in  1889,  on  the 
charge  of  having  poisoned  her  husband  with  arsenic. 

James  Maybrick,  who  was  a  cotton  merchant,  fifty 
years  of  age,  had  married  the  accused  in  America  in 
1881,  she  being  then  eighteen  years  old.  Four  years 
later  they  had  made  their  home  in  Liverpool,  and 
apparently  got  on  well  together.  In  1889,  however, 
Mrs.  Maybrick  became  friendly  with  a  man  named 
Brierley,  and  on  the  pretence  of  paying  a  visit  to  a 
relative,  went  to  London,  where  she  stayed  with  him 
for  several  days.  At  the  end  of  March  the  May  bricks 
went  to  the  Grand  National  Race,  and  the  husband 
then  became  jealous  of  Brierley,  who  was  also  present. 
Following  this  incident  came  a  violent  quarrel,  which 
resulted  in  Mrs.  May  brick's  threatening  to  leave  him. 

Shortly  afterwards,  Mr.  Maybrick  paid  a  visit  to 
his  brother  in  London,  and  while  there  complained  of 
the  extravagance  and  the  behaviour  of  his  wife. 

He  also  consulted  a  specialist,  who  diagnosed  his 
illness  as  acute  dyspepsia,  and  prescribed  for  him 
certain  medicines,  in  which,  however,  there  was  no 
arsenic. 

After  his  return  to  Liverpool  early  in  April,  Mrs 
Maybrick  bought  a  dozen  fly-papers  from  a  chemist, 
and  afterwards  two  dozen  more  from  another  chemist, 

206 


THE   MAYBRICK  CASE  207 

stating  that  the  flies  were  troublesome  in  the  house. 
In  each  case  she  paid  for  these,  although  she  had  an 
account  with  the  chemist.  It  was  found  that  each 
of  these  papers  contained  from  two  to  three  grains 
of  arsenic,  or  more  than  the  fatal  dose  for  a  man. 
Evidence  was  given  that  they  were  subsequently  dis- 
covered soaking  in  water  in  Mrs.  Maybrick's  room, 
but  that  they  had  not  been  used  to  kill  the  flies. 

At  the  end  of  April  Mr.  Maybrick  became  very 
ill,  and  a  doctor  was  called  in.  The  patient  was 
frequently  given  food  and  medicine  by  his  wife,  and 
arsenic  was  afterwards  found  in  a  bottle  of  meat 
juice.  The  prisoner  alleged  that  at  her  husband's 
own  request  she  had  put  a  white  powder  into  this 
bottle. 

On  the  9th  of  May  the  doctor  concluded  that  Mr. 
Maybrick  was  suffering  from  the  effects  of  some 
irritant  poison,  and  Mrs.  Maybrick  from  that  time 
was  not  allowed  to  come  near  him.  On  May  the  11th 
he  died. 

During  the  illness,  letters  between  Mrs.  Maybrick 
and  Brierley  had  been  intercepted,  and  in  one  of 
these  occurred  the  expression  that  her  husband  was 
"  sick  unto  death."  At  the  inquest  a  verdict  of 
"  Wilful  murder  "  against  Mrs.  Maybrick  was  returned, 
and  she  was  committed  for  trial  at  the  Liverpool 
Assizes. 

The  trial  took  place  before  Mr.  Justice  Stephen, 
who,  by  the  way,  died  insane  a  year  later,  and  the 
prisoner  was  defended  by  Sir  Charles  Russell,  who 
subsequently  became  Lord  Chief  Justice. 

The  case  for  the  prosecution  was  based  upon  the 


208         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

presence  of  a  strong  motive  for  the  crime,  the  quarrel 
between  the  husband  and  wife,  the  possession  of 
arsenic  (from  the  fly-papers)  by  the  accused,  the 
presence  of  arsenic  in  various  foods  and  medicines 
alleged  by  witnesses  to  have  been  given  to  the 
deceased  by  his  wife,  and  the  discovery  of  arsenic  in 
the  body  after  death.  In  addition  to  this,  evidence 
was  given  by  the  nurses  that  they  had  seen  the 
prisoner  manipulating  the  medicines,  and  by  doctors 
and  relations  of  Mr.  Maybrick  that  he  was  not  in  the 
habit  of  taking  arsenic.  .      j 

For  the  defence  it  was  urged  that  death  was  due 
to  acute  gastritis,  which  was  the  result  of  a  chill  or 
improper  food,  and  that  arsenical  poisoning  was  not 
the  cause  ;  that  the  fly-papers  had  been  purchased 
by  the  prisoner  for  the  preparation  of  a  cosmetic  for 
the  face  ;  and  that  the  presence  of  traces  of  arsenic 
in  the  body  was  fully  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that 
Mr.  Maybrick  was  an  arsenic  eater. 

Several  medical  men  expressed  opinions  strongly 
opposed  to  the  views  of  the  prosecution,  and  it  Wc 
pointed  out  by  these  that  many  of  the  symptoi 
characteristic  of  poisoning  by  arsenic  had  not  beei 
observed  in  this  case.  At  the  same  time  it  Wc 
admitted  that  the  effects  produced  by  arsenic  were 
often  erratic,  and,  as  Dr.  Stevenson  stated  in  his 
evidence  for  the  prosecution,  "  There  is  no  di 
tinctive  diagnostic  symptom  of  arsenical  poisoning. 
The  diagnostic  thing  is  finding  the  arsenic." 

The  medical  experts  who  gave  evidence  upoi 
behalf  of  the  prisoner  were  Dr.  Tidy  (who,  like  Di 
Stevenson,  was  an  official  analyst  to  the  Home  Office), 


THE  MAYBRICK  CASE  209 

Dr.  Macnamara,  and  Professor  Paul ;  and  their  view, 
which  was  strongly  expressed,  was  that  all  the 
symptoms  which  had  been  described  to  them  in  the 
evidence  pointed  against  arsenic  having  been  the 
cause  of  death. 

The    judge,    in   his    summing   up    of   the    medical 

evidence,    pointed    out    that    expert    witnesses    were 

,  liable  at  times  to  take  up  the  position  of  advocates 

i   with  regard  to  scientific  matters,  and  he  warned  the 

jury  to  take  this  into  consideration  in  forming  their 

conclusions. 

The  analytical  evidence  as  to  the  presence  of 
arsenic  in  the  body  and  in  the  food  and  medicine 
was  given  by  Dr.  Stevenson  and  by  Mr.  Davis. 

•  Davis  had  found  no  arsenic  in  the  stomach,  but  it 
was  discovered  in  the  liver  and  intestines.  In  the 
bottle  of  the  meat  juice  he  had  found  half  a  grain 
in  solution.  Arsenic  was  present  in  the  glass  of  the 
bottle,  but  to  a  less  extent  than  in  the  glass  of 
another  bottle  of  the  meat  juice,  in  the  contents  of 
which  no  arsenic  was  present.  Hence  the  glass  could 
not  have  been  the  source  of  the  arsenic  found  in  the 
other  bottle. 

He  had  also  found  arsenic  in  a  glass  of  milk  in  the 
house,  in  a  vessel  in  which  luncheon  had  been  sent 
to  the  office  of  Mr.  May  brick,  in  a  medicine  bottle, 
and  in  a  bottle  of  glycerine  in  the  lavatory.  In  fact, 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  features  of  this  case  was 
the  number  of  articles  in  which  arsenic  had  been  dis- 
covered. Dr.  Stevenson  had  also  found  no  arsenic 
in  the  stomach,  but  had  detected  a  small  quantity 
in  the  kidney  and  the  intestines.     In  a  portion  of  the 

14— (2121) 


210         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

liver  he  found  an  amount  which  he  calculated  to 
amount  to  one-third  of  a  grain  for  the  whole  liver, 
and  he  gave  as  his  opinion  that  "  the  body  at  the  \ 
time  of  death  probably  contained  approximately  a 
fatal  dose  of  arsenic." 

Dr.  Tidy,  in  giving  evidence  on  behalf  of  the 
accused,  criticised  this  evidence  of  Stevenson  on  the 
grounds  that  it  did  not  necessarily  follow  that 
because  one  portion  of  the  liver  contained  so  much 
arsenic,  the  same  proportion  must  be  present  in  the 
remainder.  In  his  experience  the  amounts  of  arsenic 
retained  might  vary  in  different  parts  of  the  same 
organ.  He  calculated  from  the  results  of  Stevenson's 
analyses  that  the  total  amount  of  arsenic  was  0.082 
grains. 

If  we  examine  this  evidence  more  closely  it  is 
difficult  to  see  upon  what  basis  Tidy  calculated  his 
total.  Stevenson  had  examined  approximately  one 
quarter  of  the  liver,  and  had  extracted  from  twc 
portions  a  total  quantity  of  0*076  grains,  so  that, 
according  to  Tidy,  the  remaining  three-quarters 
could  only  have  contained  0*006  grains  of  arsenic. 
On  the  face  of  it  this  seems  an  absurd  conclusion. 

The  evidence  of  Professor  Paul  went  to  prove  thai 
arsenic  was  present  in  the  material  of  earthenware 
vessels  similar  to  that  in  which  the  lunch  was  sent 
to  Mr.  Maybrick's  office,  and  that  it  could  be 
liberated  by  the  action  of  an  acid,  so  that  the 
arsenic  found  in  the  particular  vessel  might  hav< 
originated  from  the  action  of  acids  in  the  food  itsel 
upon  the  interior  of  the  vessel. 

As  has  been  mentioned,  one  of  the  points  brough 


THE  MAYBRICK  CASE  211 

as  evidence  against  the  prisoner  was  that  a  bottle  of 
glycerine  had  been  found  in  the  lavatory,  and  that 
this  contained  arsenic.  There  was  no  evidence  that 
the  prisoner  had  ever  had  this  bottle  in  her  hand, 
and,  apart  from  that,  arsenic  is  a  very  usual  impurity 
in  ordinary  commercial  glycerine. 

Having  regard  to  the  conflict  of  the  scientific  testi- 
mony, and  to  the  evidence  of  Mr.  Maybrick  having 
acquired  the  habit  of  taking  arsenic  while  resident  in 
America,  it  was  generally  expected  that  the  prisoner 
would  be  acquitted.  The  judge,  however,  evidently 
believing  her  guilty,  summed  up  strongly  against  her, 
and  put  the  point  to  be  decided  in  the  following  form  : 
The  prosecution  said  that  arsenic  was  the  producing 
cause  of  the  gastro-enteritis  which  was  the  immediate 
cause  of  death  ;  arsenic  was  found  in  the  body,  and 
strong  proof  was  given  that  arsenic  was  administered. 
The  terrible  question  was  :  By  whose  hand  was  it 
administered  ?  The  deceased  might  have  taken  it 
himself,  and  if  there  was  any  reasonable  doubt  upon 
that  point  it  was  the  duty  of  the  jury  to  acquit  the 
prisoner  ;  but  if  a  crime  was  committed,  no  other 
person  but  the  prisoner  was  suggested  as  having 
committed  it. 

The  jury  were  so  influenced  by  the  remarks  of  the 
judge  that,  after  a  retirement  of  a  little  over  thirty 
minutes,  they  found  the  prisoner  "  Guilty." 

The  feeling  was  very  widely  expressed  that  the 
prosecution  had  failed  to  establish  beyond  all  reason- 
able doubt  that  the  deceased  had  died  from  arsenic, 
and  that  arsenic  had  been  given  to  him  by  the 
prisoner,  and  that,  therefore,  she  was  entitled  to  the 


212         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

"  benefit  of  the  doubt,"  which  the  judge's  directions 
to  the  jury  had  not  allowed  to  her. 

It  may  be  mentioned  here  that  the  judge  himself, 
in  the  second  edition  of  his  Criminal  Laws  of 
England,  published  in  1890,  states  that  out  of  979 
cases  tried  before  him  up  to  September,  1889,  "  the 
case  of  Mrs.  May  brick  was  the  only  case  in  which 
there  could  be  any  doubt  about  the  facts." 

In  consequence  of  this  feeling  that  a  terrible  mis- 
take might  have  been  made,  memorials  for  the  respite 
of  Mrs.  May  brick  were  signed  by  the  physicians  of 
Liverpool,  by  members  of  Bars  of  Liverpool  and 
London,  and  by  the  citizens  of  Liverpool,  in  all  of  which 
stress  was  laid  upon  the  conflict  of  medical  testimony. 
Memorials  were  also  sent  in  from  other  parts  of  the 
country,  and  in  all  5,000  petitions,  containing  upwards 
of  half  a  million  signatures,  were  received  by  the 
Home  Secretary. 

The  feeling  was  too  strong  to  be  ignored,  and  the 
Home  Secretary,  therefore,  announced  that  he  had 
advised  the  commutation  of  the  death  penalty  to  on< 
of  penal  servitude  for  life,  on  the  ground  that : 
"  Inasmuch  as,  although  the  evidence  leads  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  prisoner  administered  and 
attempted  to  administer  arsenic  to  her  husband  with 
intent  to  murder  him,  yet  it  does  not  wholly  exclude 
a  reasonable  doubt  whether  his.  death  was  in  fact 
caused  by  the  administration  of  arsenic." 

Persistent  efforts  were  made  to  obtain  the  libera- 
tion of  the  prisoner,  and  Lord  Russell  of  Killowen, 
who  had  defended  her  at  the  trial,  and  whose  belief 
in   her  innocence  had  never   wavered,   brought  th< 


THE  MAYBRICK  CASE  213 

matter  under  the  notice  of  each  succeeding  Home 
Secretary,  but  always  without  avail.  It  was  not 
until  after  the  lapse  of  fifteen  years  that  she  was 
liberated  at  the  ordinary  termination  of  a  sentence 
shortened  by  the  good  behaviour  of  the  prisoner. 

The  course  followed  by  the  Home  Secretary 
(Matthews)  and  endorsed  by  his  successors  is 
impossible  to  defend  from  a  logical  point  of  view. 

If  the  prisoner  was  guilty  of  murder,  there  was  no 
justification  for  yielding  to  the  popular  demand.  If, 
on  the  other  hand,  there  was  "  a  reasonable  doubt "  as 
to  whether  the  man  died  from  the  effects  of  arsenic, 
she  ought  to  have  been  set  at  liberty.  But  to  com- 
mute the  sentence  for  the  reason  given  was  to  con- 
vict the  prisoner  of  attempted  murder,  a  charge  upon 
which  she  had  never  been  tried,  and  for  which,  if 
found  guilty,  she  would  not  have  received  penal 
servitude  for  life. 

At  the  present  time  a  case  of  this  kind  would  be 
brought  before  the  Court  of  Criminal  Appeal,  and  the 
prisoner  would  have  the  opportunity  of  having  the 
alleged  misdirections  of  the  presiding  judge  investi- 
gated, and  of  putting  forward  additional  evidence — 
advantages  that  were  not  available  to  the  accused 
in  this  trial. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

ADULTERATION   OF  FOOD 

National  Loss  from  Adulteration — "  Adulterated  "  Electricity 
— The  Beer  Conner — Conflict  of  Evidence — The  Notice 
Dodge — Preservatives — Standards  for  Food — Court  of 
Reference — Administration  of  the  Law. 

To  label  the  adulterator  of  food  as  a  criminal  would, 
in  the  majority  of  cases,  be  too  harsh  a  sentence,  but 
in  the  worst  forms  of  adulteration — those  in  which 
food  that  is  positively  bad  is  made  to  appear  good — 
he  more  than  deserves  the  title.  Although  in  the 
larger  proportion  of  instances  the  actual  pecuniary 
loss  inflicted  upon  the  consumer  by  the  sale  of  adulte- 
rated food  may  be  but  trifling,  the  loss  suffered  by  the 
community  collectively  through  various  forms  of  petty 
frauds  of  this  nature  reaches  an  enormous  total  in  a 
year. 

Some  idea  of  the  extent  to  which  the  public  is  thus 
defrauded  may  be  gathered  from  the  instructive  figure 
published  some  years  ago  by  Professor  Long  in  the 
Nineteenth  Century. 

In  his  article  it  was  estimated  that  1,400,000,( 
gallons  of  milk  were  produced  annually  in  the  Unitee 
Kingdom,  of  which  over  a  third  was  sold  in  the  fori 
of  milk,  the  remainder  being  converted  into  butter  an< 
cheese.  Assuming  that  a  tenth  part  of  the  milk  wei 
adulterated  by  the  middleman,  the  loss  to  the  farme 
would  represent  over  £600,000  per  annum.  There 
little  doubt  but  that  this  calculation  underestimate 

214 


ADULTERATION  OF  FOOD  215 

the  amount  of  milk  adulterated  by  the  addition  of 
water  or  by  the  separation  of  the  cream. 

The  evidence  given  before  a  Select  Committee  of 
the  House  of  Commons  appointed  to  deal  with  the  Food 
and  Drugs  Acts  suggests  that  probably  one-fifth  of  the 
butter  imported  into  this  country  is  adulterated, 
while  it  is  almost  impossible  to  form  any  estimate 
of  the  loss  to  the  consumer  from  adulterated  groceries 
and  from  the  sale  of  foreign  meat  as  "  best  English." 

With  few  exceptions,  nearly  everything  we  eat  or 
drink — in  fact,  nearly  everything  we  buy — is  liable 
to  be  substituted  for  what  we  want,  or  to  be  mixed 
with  something  else  that  we  do  not  want — at  all 
events,  at  the  price  we  have  to  pay  for  it. 

There  is  thus  considerable  excuse  for  the  amusing 
blunder  made  by  a  counsel  who  was  cross-examining 
Mr.  Siemens,  the  electrical  expert,  in  a  case  in  which 
there  was  a  dispute  about  the  working  of  some 
electrical  plant. 

"  I  think,  Mr.  Siemens,  that  you  have  had  a  long 
experience  in  connection  with  electricity  ?  " 

"  That  is  so." 

"  Well,  now,  I  want  you  to  tell  me  whether  in  the 
course  of  all  your  experience  you  have  ever  known 
electricity  to  be  adulterated  ?  " 

"  In  only  one  instance,"  replied  the  witness. 

u  And  when  was  that  ?  " 

"  In  the  phrase  '  greased  lightning,' "  was  the  instant 
witty  reply  of  the  electrical  expert. 

But  there  are  few  commodities  which  can  be  bought 
or  sold  that  have  the  clean  record  of  electricity.  In 
every  direction,  competition  is  daily  becoming  keener, 


216         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

and  rival  firms  "  cut  "  the  prices,  each  forcing  the 
other  to  sell  either  with  the  minimum  of  profit  or  to 
stop  selling  altogether. 

Under  these  conditions  there  is  a  strong  temptation 
for  a  small  firm  in  danger  of  being  crushed  out  of 
existence  by  its  competitors  to  avail  itself  of  the 
additional  profit  afforded  by  adulteration,  and  thus 
be  able  to  sell  its  goods  at  a  lower  price  than  its  more 
scrupulous  rivals. 

In  many  cases  the  adulterated  articles  are  sold 
unknowingly,  the  shopman  being  tempted  by  the 
offer  of  an  alleged  genuine  product  at  a  very  low 
price,  while  the  foreign  manufacturer  who  supplies 
him  with  the  goods  cheerfully  accepts  the  risk  of 
prosecution,  well  knowing  that  he  cannot  be  brought 
to  book. 

Frequently  the  adulteration  is  most  skilfully  effected, 
and  every  fresh  advance  in  the  chemical  methods  of 
detecting  foreign  ingredients  is  scientifically  met  by 
the  adulterator.  The  old  gross  forms  of  adulteration 
are,  for  the  most  part,  things  of  the  past,  save,  of 
course,  in  the  case  of  foods  like  milk,  which  contain 
much  water,  and  where  the  temptation  to  increase 
the  amount  is  frequently  too  strong  to  be  resisted. 

The  old  story  of  the  grocer  who  called  his  apprentice 
to  prayers  after  telling  him  to  "  water  the  treacle  and 
sand  the  sugar/'  has  lost  its  point,  at  all  events  as 
regards  sanding  the  sugar.  The  fraud  is  too  palpable. 
And  the  same  may  be  said  of  other  unskilful  forms 
of  adulteration,  such  as  the  addition  of  gypsum  to 
flour,  chalk  to  milk,  starch  to  butter,  and  so  on. 

In  short,  adulteration  of  to-day  has  become  a  fine 


ADULTERATION  OF  FOOD  217 

art,  and  the  public  analyst  has  strong  suspicions 
about  many  a  sample,  which  he  dare  not  condemn, 
since  it  might  possibly  be  genuine,  though  of  poor 
quality. 

Long  before  the  days  of  the  public  analyst  there 
was  an  official  who  was,  in  a  sense,  his  forerunner, 
and  his  methods  were  simplicity  itself.  As  might  be 
guessed,  our  ancestors  three  or  four  hundred  years 
ago,  were  mainly  concerned  about  the  strength  of  the 
national  beverage — beer,  and  they  appointed  officers 
who  were  known  as  "  beer  conners,"  to  visit  the 
different  ale-houses,  and  to  taste  and  examine  the 
liquor  that  was  being  sold.  According  to  Mr.  Sidney 
Lee,  John  Shakespeare,  the  father  of  William,  was 
appointed  an  ale-taster  in  1557. 

The  test  to  be  applied  needed  no  complicated 
apparatus  or  chemical  reagents — nothing  beyond  a 
pair  of  leather  breeches,  which  were  called  the 
"  conning  breeches." 

The  beer  Conner  would  put  these  on,  and  having 
poured  a  little  of  the  ale  on  to  a  wooden  bench  would 
sit  down  in  it  and  patiently  await  the  result.  If  after 
a  given  time  he  found  that  he  was  glued  to  the  bench, 
the  ale  contained  sugar,  and  was  condemned  as 
adulterated,  but  if  he  could  rise  without  an  effort  the 
beer  was  passed  as  pure. 

The  oath  to  be  taken  by  these  beer  tasters  or 
conners  ran  as  follows  : — 

"  You  are  the  chosen  ale-tasters  of  this  town. 

You  shall  well  and  truly  serve  his  Majesty  and  this 

town  in  the  same  office.     You  shall  at  all  times 

try,  taste,  and  assize  the  beer  and  ale  to  be  put  to 


218         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

sale  in  this  liberty,  whether  the  same  be  wholesome 
for  man's  body,  and  present  those  that  offend,  or 
refuse  to  suffer  you  to  assay  it.  You  shall  give 
your  attendance  at  all  courts,  and  present  from 
time  to  time  the  offenders,  and  all  things  else 
belonging  to  your  office  you  shall  do  and  execute. 
So  help  you  God." 

A  public  analyst  of  to-day  might  well  envy  the 
easy  lot  of  the  beer  Conner,  who  had  no  difficult 
problems  to  solve,  and  who,  if  he  condemned  ale  that 
had  sufficient  "  body "  to  hold  him  to  his  seat, 
was  sure  of  the  support  of  the  government  officials. 

To  the  layman  it  may  seem  strange  that  a  conflict 
of  opinion  should  ever  occur  between  analysts  with 
regard  to  the  genuineness  of  a  sample  of  food,  and 
that  it  should  ever  be  possible  for  an  accused  sales- 
man to  bring  rebutting  scientific  evidence.  A  con- 
sideration of  the  following  points,  however,  will 
make  this  clear,  and  show  how  such  different  opinions 
may  be  honestly  held.  (1)  Food  products  may 
consist  of  entirely  dissimilar  substances,  which  may 
readily  be  distinguished  by  suitable  tests,  as,  for 
instance,  pepper  and  salt ;  or  (2)  the  food  may  con- 
tain a  special  constituent  which  is  either  entireh 
wanting  or  only  present  in  a  smaller  proportion  ii 
other  allied  products.  It  is  mainly  with  foods  of  this 
latter  description  that  the  difficulties  of  the  public 
analyst  arise. 

For  instance,  butter  fat  contains  a  large  proportioi 
of  certain  volatile  compounds,  which  are  either  absenl 
or  are  present  in  much  smaller  quantity  in  the  fal 
used  to  adulterate  butter  :   and  thus  an  estimation  oi 


ADULTERATION  OF  FOOD  219 

these  volatile  compounds  affords  a  means  of  judging 
of  the  purity  of  the  butter.  Thus,  if  only  half  the 
normal  quantity  of  volatile  compounds  is  present, 
the  conclusion  is  drawn  that  the  butter  is  adulterated 
with  an  equal  quantity  of  foreign  fat,  and  so  on. 

The  task  would  not  be  difficult  if  butter  fat  were 
always  constant  in  composition;  but,  unfortunately, 
there  are  often  wide  variations  in  the  proportion  of 
ingredients,  and  it  frequently  happens  that  the  public 
analyst  has  to  give  his  judgment  upon  a  sample, 
which  might  either  be  a  butter  very  rich  in  the 
characteristic  volatile  substances  and  adulterated  with 
10  per  cent,  of  foreign  fat ;  or  it  might  be  a  genuine 
butter  that  was  very  deficient  in  these  volatile 
compounds. 

This,  then,  is  the  dilemma.  If  the  analyst  condemn 
such  a  sample  on  the  strength  of  this  and  other  tests, 
he  may  be  confronted  by  the  evidence  of  other 
analysts  who  will  give  their  opinion  that  the  butter 
is  genuine  ;  and  if,  then,  the  matter  be  referred  to 
the  Government  analysts,  their  report  may  or  may 
not  corroborate  his,  and  in  the  latter  alternative  the 
authority  instituting  the  prosecution  may  have  to 
pay  heavy  costs. 

It ,  is  well  known  that  butters  are  scientifically 
blended  with  foreign  fats  so  as  to  fall  just  on  the 
border  line  between  abnormal  and  adulterated 
samples,  and  the  analyst  is  frequently  compelled 
to  pass  such  a  butter  as  genuine,  lest  he  should 
unwittingly  do  an  injustice. 

A  large  proportion  of  Dutch  butter  is  abnormal  in 
this  respect,  and  has  been  so  frequently  condemned 


220         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

as  adulterated  by  English  chemists,  that  protests  have 
been  made  by  the  leading  Dutch  analysts. 

The  reason  for  the  abnormal  character  of  Dutch 
butter  appears  to  be  that  the  cows  are  left  too  long 
in  the  fields,  for  as  soon  as  they  are  stalled  for  the 
winter,  the  character  of  the  butter  gradually  becomes 
normal  again. 

These  details  have  been  given  at  some  length,  for 
they  are  typical  of  the  problem  which  the  public 
analyst  has  to  solve  in  the  case  of  many  natural  pro- 
ducts, i.e.,  to  decide  whether  a  food  is  adulterated  or 
only  naturally  of  poor  quality. 

There  is  no  special  difficulty  in  the  analyses  ;  it  is 
a  question  of  interpretation  of  the  results. 

The  chief  culprit  in  the  matter  of  the  adulteration 
of  butter  is  the  small  dealer,  who  buys  margarine 
from  the  margarine  manufacturer  and  skilfully  blends 
it  with  butter  in  a  proportion  that  is  small  in  a  single 
instance,  but  is  sufficient  to  bring  him  in  a  handsome 
profit  in  the  course  of  a  year. 

Owing  to  the  difficulty  of  detecting  such  small 
additions  of  margarine  to  butter  (which,  as  was 
explained  above,  is  due  to  the  variations  in  the 
natural  product)  a  most  ingenious  device  has  been 
adopted  in  some  countries. 

This  is  the  addition  of  a  small  quantity  of  a 
"  latent  colour  "  to  the  margarine,  so  that,  although 
it  appears  yellow,  like  butter,  its  colour  can  be 
changed  by  the  application  of  a  single  reagent  to  pink 
or  blue,  and  its  presence  thus  revealed  in  a  mixture 
of  butter  and  margarine. 

Several  years  ago  an  attempt  was  made  in  some  of  the 


ADULTERATION  OF  FOOD  221 

United  States  to  compel  manufacturers  of  margarine 
to  colour  it  pink,  so  that  it  could  not  possibly  be 
palmed  off  as  butter,  but  as  this  law  was  found  to 
have  the  effect  of  stopping  the  sale  of  margarine 
altogether,  it  is  no  longer  enforced. 

Various  substances  have  been  suggested  as  suitable 
for  the  latent  colouring  matter,  such  as  starch,  which 
turns  blue  on  contact  with  iodine,  and  certain  colour- 
less coal-tar  derivatives  which  change  to  pink  upon 
the  addition  of  an  alkali  or  acid. 

There  are  numerous  objections  to  the  use  of  some 
of  these  compounds.  Thus,  starch  may  be  washed 
out  of  the  margarine  by  a  simple  treatment  with 
water,  while  a  coal  tar  derivative  that  turns  pink  on 
contact  with  an  alkali  is  too  sensitive  an  ingredient 
for  everyday  use. 

A  far  more  satisfactory  substance  than  any  of 
these  was  found  in  the  oil  derived  from  sesame  seed. 
This  is  a  wholesome  oil  with  a  fragrant  odour  and 
pleasant  taste,  which  is  largely  used  as  a  salad  oil  in 
certain  parts  of  Europe.  It  is  one  of  the  few  vegetable 
oils  that  can  be  detected  by  means  of  a  special  colour 
reaction  ;  for  on  treating  the  oil  with  a  particular 
reagent  it  gives  a  bright  rose  colour,  and  the  test  is 
so  sensitive  that  it  will  detect  the  presence  of  even 
a  small  percentage  of  sesame  oil  in  other  fats. 
| .  A  compulsory  addition  of  a  small  amount  of  sesame 
oil  to  all  margarine,  therefore,  affords  an  absolutely 
certain  means  of  recognising  the  margarine  subse- 
quently. The  first  country  to  adopt  this  plan  was 
Germany,  where  a  few  years  ago  a  regulation  was 
made  that  all  makers  of  margarine  must  use  10  per 


222         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

cent,  of  sesame  oil  with  the  other  ingredients. 
Belgium  has  also  adopted  the  same  plan  of  ear- 
marking the  margarine  produced  in  the  country,  and 
has  thus  simplified  in  one  direction  the  problem  of 
detecting  petty  adulteration. 

A  similar  problem  has  to  be  solved  in  dealing  with 
milk,  the  proportion  of  cream  in  which  varies  natur- 
ally to  such  an  extent  that  it  is  possible  to  add  a 
considerable  amount  of  water  to  a  rich  milk  without 
bringing  it  below  the  level  of  a  poor  but  genuine 
milk.  When  such  a  sample  of  milk  has  been  con- 
demned, the  analyst  has  often  been  confronted  by  an 
appeal  to  the  cow  herself. 

But  even  the  specious  notice  which  was  for  years 
to  be  seen  over  a  dairy  :  "  Our  customers  may  come 
and  see  the  cows  milked  into  their  own  jugs,"  is  no 
proof  that  the  fluid  they  yield  is  necessarily 
"  milk." 

For  the  up-to-date  dairyman  has  discovered  how  to 
adulterate  the  milk  at  the  other  end  of  the  cow.  He 
has  found  that  by  giving  her  certain  food  in  excess 
he  can  make  her  produce  an  abnormally  large 
quantity  of  milk  which  lacks  the  right  proportion  of 
cream  and  other  constituents  of  genuine  milk.  It 
has  more  than  once  been  ruled  by  a  bench  of 
magistrates,  and  more  recently  in  the  High  Court, 
that  all  is  not  milk  that  comes  from  the  cow,  and 
that  a  customer  who  asks  for  "  milk  "  is  entitled  to 
get  something  with  certain  definite  characteristics. 

Even  in  cases  where  there  would  be  no  such  escape 
from  the  results  of  the  analyst's  certificate,  the 
ingenious  adulterator  is  by  no  means  at  the  end  of 


ADULTERATION  OF  FOOD  223 

his  tether,  but  has  numerous  dodges  upon  which  to 
fall  back. 

One  of  the  best  known  of  these  is  the  '*  notice 
dodge,"  examples  of  which  must  frequently  have  been 
seen  by  everyone. 

A  notice,  often  in  very  small  type,  is  put  up  to 
the  effect  that  the  seller  will  not  guarantee  that  the 
goods  he  sells  are  genuine.  Then  when  he  is  sum- 
moned for  selling,  say,  adulterated  milk,  he  produces 
his  notice  and  claims  that  that  indemnifies  him. 

A  very  amusing  instance  of  this  notice  dodge  being 
carried  to  its  logical  conclusion  was  witnessed  in 
Merionethshire  a  few  years  ago,  when  the  Chief  Con- 
stable of  the  district  reported  that  all  the  shopkeepers 
had  put  up  notices  stating  that  "  All  goods  sold  here 
are  adulterated." 

A  similar  deadlock  occurred,  in  1903,  in  Buckingham- 
shire, and  there  the  County  Council  forbade  such 
notices  being  exhibited,  though  it  is  doubtful  whether 
it  was  within  its  legal  rights  in  so  doing. 

The  plausible  excuses  put  forward  by  the  perverted 
ingenuity  of  the  adulterator  to  escape  conviction  are 
innumerable.  Mistake  on  the  part  of  the  seller, 
warranty  with  goods  obtained  from  abroad,  and  the 
shop-boy  as  scapegoat  are  among  the  most  common 
forms  of  defence. 

The  extent  to  which  a  legal  quibble  may  be  carried 
reached  its  limit  perhaps  in  a  prosecution  that 
occurred  a  few  years  ago.  In  a  certain  village  there 
was  only  one  shop,  and  that  was  a  co-operative  store, 
of  which  the  whole  of  the  villagers  were  members. 
A  county  inspector  bought   "  pure "   coffee  at   this 


224         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

shop,  and  on  analysis  the  coffee  was  found  to  contain 
90  per  cent,  of  chicory,  and  eventually  the  manager 
of  the  store  was  fined. 

For  the  defence,  it  was  urged  that  the  villagers 
were  themselves  both  shopkeepers  and  purchasers, 
and,  therefore,  could  not  be  prejudiced  by  the  sale  of 
adulterated  goods.  The  inspector,  however,  was  not 
a  member  of  the  co-operative  store,  and  on  this 
ground  the  prosecution  was  successful. 

But  if  one  of  the  villagers  had  bought  the  coffee, 
it  is  doubtful  whether  any  fine  could  have  legally 
been  inflicted,  for  it  would  have  been  a  case  of 
co-operative  adulteration. 

A  very  common  method  of  avoiding  the  attention 
of  the  inspector  is  a  refusal  to  supply  him  with  the 
goods.  In  a  small  town  the  dishonest  tradesman 
will  be  on  his  guard  against  suspicious  looking 
individuals,  and  should  he  consider  them  to  be  agents 
of  the  inspector  will  refuse  to  serve  them. 

A  fine  is  imposed  for  refusal  to  sell,  but  this  usually 
involves  the  shopkeeper  in  considerably  less  expense 
than  a  fine  for  selling  adulterated  goods,  while  he 
retains  his  character  as  an  upright  citizen. 
[  The  question  of  preservatives  in  food  is  typical  o* 
the  present  chaotic  state  of  the  law  with  regard  to 
the  adulteration  of  food. 

A  Parliamentary  Commission  sat  for  a  long  period, 
and  finally  issued  a  report,  the  recommendations  of 
which  were  allowed  to  remain  recommendations,  and 
every  analyst  and  public  authority  must  still  put  its 
own  interpretation  upon  what  is  and  what  is  not 
permissible. 


ADULTERATION  OF  FOOD  225 

Preservatives  are  undoubtedly  used  in  an  absolutely 
haphazard  way.  Milk  is  preserved  with  all  kinds  of 
substances,  chiefly  boric  acid,  and  at  one  time, 
formalin  ;  butter  and  hams  with  boric  acid ;  and 
jams  with  salicylic  acid  and  similar  compounds. 
Thus,  at  the  end  of  the  day,  an  unsuspecting  indi- 
vidual may  have  consumed  a  considerable  quantity 
of  various  antiseptic  agents. 

Everyone  will  agree  that  preservatives  of  every 
kind  ought  to  be  prohibited  in  milk,  the  more  so 
since  it  is  the  staple  food  of  young  children  and 
invalids,  and  in  the  case  of  butter  the  presence  of  a 
preservative  should  be  notified,  as  recommended  by 
the  Commission. 

A  little  boric  acid  in  ham  probably  interferes  much 
less  with  the  digestion  than  an  excess  of  salt,  but  it 
is  right  that  the  consumer  should  be  given  his  choice 
of  spoiling  his  own  digestion  in  the  way  that  pleases 
him  best. 

An  objection  brought  against  such  notifications  of 
preservatives  in  food  is  that  they  would  convey  no 
meaning  to  the  public,  but  the  commercial  travellers 
of  rival  firms  would  certainly  not  lose  the  chance  of 
making  capital  out  of  the  notices  of  their  opponents. 

Nearly  all  the  non-alcoholic  wines  and  lime  juice 
cordials  in  the  market  are  heavily  preserved.  But 
the  fact  that  the  public  demands  an  article  that  shall 
not  ferment  after  the  bottle  has  been  opened,  and 
that  prosecutions  for  the  use  of  preservatives  are 
spasmodic,  makes  it  impossible  for  the  manufacturer 
to  discard  them.  If  he  did  so  under  the  present  con- 
ditions, he  would  no  longer  be  able  to  compete  with 

15— (2121) 


226         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

other    firms    who    continued    to    take    the    risk    of 
prosecution. 

Moreover,  it  is  no  uncommon  thing  for  the  defen- 
dants in  these  cases  to  call  as  witnesses  on  their  behalf 
gentlemen  holding  positions  as  medical  officers,  and 
cases  that  are  well  defended  are  almost  invariably 
dismissed. 

The  manufacturer  of  non-alcoholic  wines  stands  in 
a  very  difficult  position.  If  he  employs  preservatives 
in  sufficient  quantity  effectively  to  stop  fermentation 
he  is  liable  to  be  prosecuted  under  the  Food  and 
Drugs  Act.  If,  on  the  other ,  hand,  no  preservative 
is  used,  the  liquid  is  liable  to  ferment,  and  the 
manufacturer  may  then  be  prosecuted  for  selling 
fermented  liquid  without  a  licence. 

Hence  it  follows  that  if  the  use  of  preservatives  in 
lime  juice  cordial  and  the  like  is  to  be  prohibited,  the 
law  ought  to  be  rigidly  enforced  and  not  applied  in 
the  present  haphazard  fashion,  which  allows  one 
manufacturer  to  sell  his  goods  unchallenged  fo 
years,  and  drags  his  competitor  into  one  police  cou 
after  another. 

It  is  hardly  fair  that  matters  which  are  so  muc 
questions  of  opinion  should  be  left  to  be  fought  ou 
in  the  police  courts  before  magistrates  who  have  n 
technical  knowledge  to  deal  with  them. 

The  position,  however,  was  well  put  by  a  magi 
trate  a  year  or  two  ago  in  giving  his  decision  in 
prosecution   for  the  sale  of  lime  juice  cordial  pre 
served  with  salicylic  acid.     Evidence  was  given  by 
chemists  and  medical  men  for  the  prosecution  that 
such  an  addition  was  injurious,  while  a  number  of 


ADULTERATION  OF  FOOD  227 

scientific  witnesses  of  equal  eminence  were  present  to 
support  the  view  of  the  defendants. 

The  magistrate,  without  calling  upon  the  defence, 
dismissed  the  case.  He  held  that  there  was  an  irre- 
concilable conflict  of  opinion  between  the  purists  who 
would  allow  no  preservatives  whatever  in  such  pro- 
ducts and  the  manufacturer  who  had  to  meet  the 
popular  demand  for  such  an  article  that  would  keep 
after  it  had  been  opened,  and  he  considered  that  it 
had  not  been  proved  that  the  amount  of  salicylic 
acid  was  in  excess  of  that  needed  for  that  purpose. 
Incidentally  he  remarked  that  if  notification  of  the 
addition  of  such  preservatives  on  the  label  were  made 
compulsory,  "  then  the  fun  would  begin."  You 
would  see  notices  of  So-and-so's  lime  juice  preserved 
with  sulphide,  "  harmless,  but  with  a  smell  of  bad 
eggs."  Or  of  So-and-so's  lemon  squash,  M  preserved 
with  salicylic  acid,  refreshing,  but  ruinous  to  the 
digestion." 

One  of  the  recommendations  of  the  Departmental 
Committee  of  1899  was  that  means  should  be  pro- 
vided for  the  establishment  of  a  separate  Court  of 
Reference,  which  should  deal  with  the  question  of 
preservatives  in  food  and  decide  which  should  be 
permissible  and  in  what  quantities  they  should  be 
allowed. 

Such  a  Court  of  Reference,  in  which  there  should 
be  representatives  not  only  of  the  medical  and 
chemical  professions,  but  also  of  the  large  manu- 
facturers and  dealers  in  food,  would  tend  to  remove 
the  present  state  of  uncertainty  on  this  point. 

Looking  at  the  matter  from  a  practical  point  of 


228         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

view,  it  seems  to  be  an  impossibility  to  eliminate  the 
use  of  preservatives  from  all  articles  of  food,  and  it 
would  be  a  far  more  satisfactory  course  if  a  via  media 
could  be  found  between  prohibiting  their  use  abso- 
lutely and  leaving  it  to  the  manufacturer  to  dose  his 
products  with  any  quantity  of  any  antiseptic.  Evi- 
dence could  be  heard  by  such  a  body  of  official 
referees,  who,  after  taking  into  consideration  the 
views  of  all  concerned,  could  from  time  to  time  issue 
authoritative  regulations,  which  would  be  binding 
upon  everyone. 

It  should  also  be  part  of  the  duties  of  such  a  Court 
to  see  that  the  regulations  were  rigidly  enforced,  so 
that  a  manufacturer  who  carried  them  out  should  not 
suffer  by  the  competition  of  another  manufacturer 
who  (as  at  the  present  time)  ran  only  a  trifling  risk 
of  prosecution  in  ignoring  them. 

Another  advantage  of  such  a  proposed  Court  of 
Reference  would  be  that  the  manufacturer  would  no 
longer  be  liable  to  a  criminal  prosecution  on  points 
on  which  there  is  no  agreement  between  the  highest 
scientific  authorities  in  the  country. 

Under  the  present  conditions,  a  town  or  boroug 
council,  using  the  ratepayers'  money,  may  attempt  t 
get  a  decision  on  the  subject  of  preservatives  in  an 
ordinary  police  court.  The  manufacturer,  if  he  is 
rich  enough  to  pay  for  the  necessary  expert  evidence, 
will  probably  succeed  in  getting  the  case  dismissed, 
as,  in  fact,  has  frequently  been  done. 

But  the  magistrates'  decision  carries  no  finality, 
and  is  not  binding  upon  anyone  else,  so  that  the 
borough  council  may  raise  the  question  again,  and 


>t 

! 


ADULTERATION  OF  FOOD  229 

prosecute  the  same  firm  for  the  same  alleged  offence 
in  the  same  court.  If,  instead  of  selecting  the  same 
firm  of  manufacturers,  which  would  have  the  appear- 
ance of  vindictiveness,  they  bring  an  action  against 
another  firm  which  cannot  afford  the  £200  to  £300 
required  to  win  an  action  of  the  kind,  and  the  case 
is  tried  before  another  magistrate,  they  may  succeed 
in  getting  their  victim  heavily  fined,  and  justice 
would  thus  be  reduced  to  the  absurdity  that,  while 
one  magistrate  held  that  there  was  no  offence,  his 
brother  magistrate  decided  that  a  criminal  offence 
had  been  committed.  It  may,  perhaps,  be  men- 
tioned that  this  is  no  imaginary  picture,  but  is  based 
on  actual  occurrences. 

Another  question  which  has  been  the  subject  of 
almost  as  many  conflicts  as  the  addition  of  preserva- 
tives is  the  colouring  of  preserved  peas  with  a  small 
trace  of  copper. 

Many  of  the  prosecutions  have  been  successful,  but 
quite  as  many  have  been  dismissed.  The  public 
demands  a  green  colour  in  the  preserved  peas  it  pur- 
chases, and  it  is  apparently  impossible  to  have  this 
without  the  addition  of  copper. 

Formerly  a  vigorous  campaign  was  carried  on  in 
France  to  prevent  any  addition  of  copper  whatsoever, 
but  it  was  found  to  be  impossible  to  enforce  its 
absence,  and  the  attempts  to  do  so  there  have  long 
been  abandoned. 

A  better  course  than  spasmodic  prosecutions, 
frequently  abortive,  would  be  to  fix  a  limit  to  the 
amount  that  might  be  used,  and  to  render  it  obliga- 
tory  upon    the   manufacturer   to   state   prominently 


230         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

upon  the  label  that  the  peas  were  coloured  with 
copper. 

It  may  be  mentioned  in  this  connection  that  Pro- 
fessor Tunnicliffe  issued  a  minority  report  to  the  main 
report  of  the  Departmental  Committee,  in  which  he 
recommended  that  the  amount  of  metallic  copper  to 
be  allowed  in  preserved  vegetables  should  not  exceed 
half  a  grain  per  lb.,  and  that  its  presence  should  always 
be  declared. 

The  colouring  of  sugar  by  means  of  tin  salts  stands 
upon  a  very  different  footing,  for  in  that  case  the 
colouring  is  done  with  the  definite  object  of  deceiving 
the  purchaser. 

At  one  time,  pure  Demerara  cane  sugar,  which  was 
brown  from  the  presence  of  certain  vegetable  impuri- 
ties, had  a  great  reputation  for  its  fine  flavour,  and 
still  fetches  a  higher  price  in  the  market  than  purified 
beet  sugar. 

This  reputation  has  been  traded  upon  by  certain 
unscrupulous  sugar  dealers,  who  have  discovered  how 
to  treat  white  beet  sugar  with  a  tin  salt  or  with 
aniline  dye-stuffs  so  as  to  give  it  the  appearance  of 
the  old  genuine  Demerara  cane  sugar. 

At  present  it  is  practically  impossible  to  distinguish, 
except  by  the  flavour,  between  absolutely  pure  beet 
and  cane  sugars,  but  the  dyed  product  is  a  very 
different  substance  from  the  brown  Demerara  sugar, 
and  there  have  been  numerous  convictions  for  the 
fraudulent  substitution  of  the  one  for  the  other. 

The  presence  of  traces  of  arsenic  in  food  products 
is  a  very  much  more  serious  matter  than  the  presence 
of  a  small  amount  of  copper. 


ADULTERATION  OF  FOOD  231 

Arsenic  is  undoubtedly  a  cumulative  poison,  and 
the  effects  produced  by  the  long-continued  repetition 
of  small  doses  were  shown  by  the  numerous  fatal 
cases  of  poisoning  caused  by  drinking  arsenical  beer, 
in  the  poisoning  epidemic  a  few  years  ago. 

It  may  be  safely  asserted  that  for  twenty  years 
before  that  outbreak  it  had  never  occurred  to  any- 
one to  test  beer  for  arsenic.  The  possibility  of  its 
being  present  ought  to  have  suggested  itself,  but 
apparently  it  never  did. 

The  origin  of  the  arsenic  in  the  beer  is  obvious, 
when  it  is  remembered  that  glucose  is  one  of  the 
substances  commonly  used  in  the  brewing  of  beer, 
and  that  glucose  is  prepared  by  treating  starch  with 
sulphuric  acid,  which,  is  in  turn,  frequently  made 
from  iron  pyrites  containing  arsenic. 

After  the  source  of  the  arsenic  in  the  Manchester 
beer  had  been  discovered,  an  arsenic  "  scare  "  set  in. 
Every  possible  description  of  food  was  examined,  and 
traces  of  arsenic  were  found  in  many  hitherto 
unsuspected  places. 

Malt,  dried  in  kilns  and  allowed  to  come  in  contact 
with  the  fumes  from  coal,  invariably  contains  an 
appreciable  amount  of  arsenic  derived  from  the  coal, 
and  even  malts  prepared  with  the  greatest  care  usually 
contain  about  one  part  per  million  of  arsenic.  For  all 
practical  purposes,  however,  so  small  a  trace  is 
negligible. 

The  members  of  the  Royal  Commission  which  was 
appointed  to  examine  and  report  on  arsenic  in  food 
were  strongly  divided  with  regard  to  whether  any 
trace  of  arsenic  should  be  permitted  in  food.     Some 


232         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

were  in  favour  of  absolute  prohibition,  while  others 
recognised  that,  even  if  this  were  done,  the  rule  could 
never  be  rigidly  enforced.  Hence  their  report  bears 
evidence  of  a  compromise,  for  it  states  that  although 
the  Commission  had  been  unable  to  discover  that  such 
minute  traces  of  arsenic  were  injurious,  yet  they  were 
unwilling  to  admit  that  any  quantity,  however  small, 
was  permissible  in  food. 

Subsequently  they  recommended  that  a  particular 
test  should  be  used  which  would  ensure  that  arsenic 
in  food  and  drugs  should  not  exceed  an  infinitesimal 
trace,  and  that  frequent  tests  of  raw  and  finished 
materials  should  be  made. 

These  recommendations  are  now  widely  adopted, 
and  it  is  highly  improbable  that  another  epidemic  of 
arsenic  poisoning  will  ever  occur  again  in  this 
country. 

No  better  illustration  of  the  vicious  circles  in  which 
adulteration  may  move  can  be  found  than  in  the 
practice  of  certain  manufacturers  of  jam  of  the  cheaper 
kind.  Apple  pulp  is  a  common  constituent  of  jams 
which  conceal  their  identity  under  another  name. 
Now,  in  the  case  of  raspberry  jam,  for  example,  it  is 
necessary  to  have  the  seeds  as  well  as  fruit  pulp,  and 
these  seeds  may  be  bought  very  cheaply  from  the 
makers  of  fruit  essences. 

The  best  quality  of  these  essences  is  prepared  by 
mixing  the  fruit  with  alcohol  and  distilling  the 
mixture,  the  spirit  carrying  over  with  it  the  ethereal 
oils  to  which  the  fruit  owes  its  characteristic  odour 
and  flavour.  Cheaper  fruit  essences  are  imitated 
chemically   by   making   the   most   important   of  the 


ADULTERATION  OF  FOOD  233 

compounds  in  the  genuine  ethereal  oils,  and  dissolving 
them  in  spirit ;  but  they  are  usually  coarse  in  flavour, 
and  do  not  bear  comparison  with  the  real  product. 
Where  intermediate  grades  are  wanted,  mixtures  of 
the  real  and  synthetical  essences  are  often  blended, 
and  these  frequently  imitate  the  natural  product  so 
closely  as  to  be  only  distinguishable  by  a  trained 
sense  of  smell  and  taste. 

In  the  preparation  of  the  genuine  fruit  essences  a 
residual  pulp,  containing  the  seeds  and  woody  fibre 
of  the  fruit,  but  devoid  of  all  flavour  or  aroma,  is  left 
behind,  and  it  is  this  which  the  unscrupulous  jam 
manufacturer  makes  use  of  in  preparing  a  cheap  jam, 
in  which  the  seeds,  at  all  events,  are  genuine.  Then, 
in  order  to  give  more  flavour  to  his  product,  he  buys 
from  the  essence  maker  a  flavouring  essence,  a  small 
part  of  which  may  have  originally  been  derived  from 
the  fruit  that  has  given  him  the  pulp  and  seeds  for 
his  jam. 

The  question  of  adopting  a  fixed  standard  for  all 
natural  products  is  one  that  has  been  widely  dis- 
cussed. It  would  have  the  advantage  of  simplifying 
the  issue  to  be  decided  by  the  analyst  and  of  pre- 
venting possible  errors  of  judgment  in  the  case  of 
samples  upon  the  border  line  between  undoubtedly 
genuine  and  undoubtedly  adulterated  products.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  legal  fixing  of  a  standard  gives 
security  to  a  skilful  adulterator,  who  is  able  to  make 
his  goods  fall  within  the  limit  of  the  figures  given  by 
genuine  products  of  low  quality. 

Although  most  of  the  milk  in  large  towns  consists 
of  the  mixed  products  of  many  herds  of  cows,  and 


234         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

thus  tends  to  have  a  percentage  of  fat  only  slightly 
higher  than  that  required  by  the  law,  there  is  but  little 
doubt  that  a  considerable  proportion  is  scientifically 
watered  and  thus  brought  down  to  a  limit  of  richness, 
which  is  only  a  little  above  that  which  will  enable  it 
to  pose  as  milk  straight  from  the  cow. 

Another  instance  of  this  effect  of  standardisation 
was  seen  in  Bavaria,  where  a  few  years  ago  a 
minimum  analytical  figure  was  fixed  for  lard,  with 
the  result  that  the  American  lard  merchants  sent  to 
Germany  large  quantities  of  lard  which  answered  the 
requirements  of  this  test,  but  were  heavily  adulterated 
with  beef  fat. 

However  much  an  analyst  may  deprecate  the  fixing 
of  standards  for  such  products  as  milk  and  butter, 
he  is  forced  in  practice  to  fix  a  standard  for  himself. 
The  Society  of  Public  Analysts,  recognising  this, 
passed  a  resolution  that  milk  to  be  regarded  as 
genuine  must  contain  not  less  than  11£  per  cent,  of 
solid  matter,  and  of  this  not  less  than  3  per  cent, 
must  be  fat. 

This  fixes  the  standard  for  milk  at  a  very  low  limit, 
and  undoubtedly  leaves  a  margin  for  the  watering  of 
rich  milks. 

On  the  other  hand,  Dr.  Vieth,  whose  experience  in 
the  examination  of  milks  was  probably  unequalled, 
wrote  in  reference  to  this  standard :  "I  think  it  is 
very  judiciously  fixed,  but  in  upholding  the  standard 
of  purity,  it  should  never  be  forgotten  that  the  cows 
have  never  been  asked  for  nor  have  given  their  assent 
to  it,  and  that  they  will  at  times  produce  milk  below 
standard.      A  bad  season  for  haymaking  is,  in  my 


ADULTERATION  OF  FOOD  235 

experience,  almost  invariably  followed  by  a  particu- 
larly low  depression  in  the  quality  of  the  milk 
towards  the  end  of  the  winter.  Should  the  winter 
be  of  unusual  severity  and  length,  the  depression  will 
be  still  more  marked.  Long  spells  of  cold  and  wet, 
as  well  as  of  heat  and  drought,  during  the  time  when 
cows  are  kept  on  pasture,  also  unfavourably  influence 
the  quality  and,  I  may  add,  the  quantity  of 
milk." 

Mr.  H.  D.  Richmond,  who  had  also  had  the  oppor- 
tunity of  examining  an  immense  number  of  samples 
of  milk,  considered  that  the  standard  of  3  per  cent, 
of  fat  was  a  reasonable  one  for  the  mixed  milk  of  a 
whole  herd,  but  considered  that  milk  ought  not  to  be 
pronounced  as  watered  unless  the  solids  other  than 
fat  were  well  below  8*0  per  cent.,  except  upon 
evidence  derived  from  other  tests. 

In  the  Sale  of  Food  and  Drugs  Act  of  1899  powers 
were  conferred  upon  the  Board  of  Agriculture  to 
make  regulations  determining  what  deficiency  in  the 
proportion  of  constituents  of  milk,  cream,  butter,  or 
cheese  should  raise  a  presumption  that  the  product 
was  not  genuine  until  the  contrary  was  proved. 
Acting  under  this  section  of  the  Act,  the  Board 
adopted  the  minimum  limit  of  the  Society  of  Public 
Analysts,  so  that  now  any  milk  containing  less  than 
3  per  cent,  of  fat  and  8*5  per  cent,  of  cream  is 
regarded  as  adulterated  unless  it  can  be  proved  by 
the  vendor  that  it  is  genuine,  and  it  thus  has  the 
effect  of  transferring  the  burden  of  proof  from  the 
prosecution  to  the  defence. 

As  was  mentioned  above,  the  whole   tendency  of 


236         SCIENCE  AND  THE  CRIMINAL 

recent  legal  decisions  is  towards  enforcing  this  stan- 
dard. For  instance,  in  a  case  in  which  there  had 
been  "  an  appeal  to  the  cow,"  it  was  held  by  the 
present  Lord  Chief  Justice  that :  "  If,  however, 
the  article  produced,  although  it  is  produced  by  the 
cow,  is  the  result  of  an  abnormal  condition  of  things 
arising  either  from  disease,  or,  as  here,  from  unsound 
treatment  of  the  cow,  I  think  that  does  amount  to 
evidence  upon  which  the  magistrates  can  find  the 
article  is  not  of  the  nature,  substance,  and  quality 
of  the  article  demanded." 

A  want  of  system  characterises  the  whole  adminis- 
tration of  the  Food  and  Drugs  Act,  and  many  of 
the  local  authorities  are  unwilling  to  see  that  an 
adequate  number  of  samples  are  taken. 

For  instance,  only  a  few  years  ago,  Lancashire, 
with  a  population  of  over  a  million  and  a  half,  was 
content  with  1,755  samples,  or  one  to  each  10,000 
people,  while  in  Essex,  with  a  population  of  over 
half  a  million,  the  samples  taken  were  686. 

In  Bury  St.  Edmunds  no  samples  at  all  were  taken 
during  the  four  years  ending  1899,  and  a  similar  lax 
administration  of  the  law  in  many  other  places  might 
be  cited. 

Some  places  pride  themselves  upon  their  freedom 
from  adulteration,  because  out  of  the  paltry  number 
of  samples  taken  by  the  inspectors,  a  quarter  of  the 
number  or  less  may  have  been  adulterated. 

Even  when  the  limited  number  of  samples  is  pro- 
perly taken,  there  is  often  a  scandalous  inadequacy 
and  frequent  inequalities  in  the  amount  of  fine  inflicted. 

For  instance,  a  milkman  was  fined  one  shilling  at 


ADULTERATION  OF  FOOD  237 

Margate  for  the  sale  of  watered  milk — a  fine  grossly 
inadequate  to  take  away  temptation  ;  while  in  other 
courts  we  find  fines  of  a  pound  or  more  imposed  for 
exactly  the  same  offence. 

The  remedy  for  this  would  be  to  have  a  fixed  scale 
of  fines  for  each  offence.  Another  direction  in  which 
legislation  is  needed  is  the  protection  of  the  middle- 
class  buyer.  At  the  present  time  a  shopman  runs 
little  or  no  risk  in  selling  adulterated  food  to  private 
houses.  And  the  greater  the  vigilance  of  the  local 
authority  in  protecting  the  buyer  over  the  counter, 
the  greater  is  the  temptation  to  the  shopkeeper  to 
make  an  illicit  profit  out  of  ordered  goods.  Some 
means  might  well  be  provided  for  the  examination  of 
purchases  in  transit. 

As  a  rule,  the  public  is  apathetic  in  the  matter  of 
adulteration,  and  errors  of  judgment,  frequently 
inevitable  under  the  present  system,  on  the  part  of  the 
analyst  have  led  to  his  being  regarded  as  the  natural 
enemy  of  the  tradesman. 

If  some  system  of  standardisation  for  food  products 
were  generally  adopted,  leaving  the  burden  of  proof 
of  the  genuineness  of  abnormal  samples  upon  the 
seller,  and  if  the  element  of  chance  in  the  administra- 
tion of  the  law  were  reduced,  this  prejudice  on  the 
part  of  tradesmen  in  general  would  disappear,  although 
with  the  dishonest  dealer  the  public  analyst  would 
become  more  unpopular  than  in  the  past. 


INDEX 


Adulteration  of  food,  214 

Agraphia,  78 

Anthropometry,  50 

Arsenic  in  beer,  231 

Arsenic  poisoning,  176,  181,  183 

Bank-note  forgeries,  102 
Beck  case,  41,  92 
Beer  conners,  217 
Bertillonage,  50 
Blandy,  Mary,  181 
Blood,  structure  of,    154 

stains  identified,  155,   157 

,  serum  test  for,  162 

Bloodhounds,  29 
Briggs,  murder  of,  33 
Brinkley    poisoning    case,    109, 
116 

Capture  of  criminals,  22 
Catchpole,   Margaret,  22 
Charlesworth  case,  28 
Circumstantial  detection,  33 

evidence,   11 

Conflict    of    scientific    evidence, 

14,  19 
Courvoisier,  4 
Crippen  case,  25,  167 

Detective  force,  2 
Dodd,  Dr.,  140 

Elizabethan  ink,  107 
Errors  of  eye-witnesses,  39 
Essex,  Earl  of,  8 

Fallibility  of  eye-witnesses,  37 
Fauld's  observations  on  finger- 
prints, 62 


Finger-prints,  54 

,  detection  by,  66,  68 

,  heredity  in,  62 

,  identification  by,  59 

,  persistence  of,  58 

,  systems  of  classifying,  64, 

67 
Forged  documents,  93 
Forgery  trials,  135 

Gorse  Hall  murder,  41,  166 
Gun-flash  identification,  44 

Hair,  identification  of,  167 

of  animals,  169 

Hale,  trial  of,  135 
Handwriting,  70 

,  evidence  as  to,  85 

,  heredity  in,  71 

,  hypnotic,  82 

,  formation  of,  73 

in  diseases,  78 

in  insanity,  79 

in  paralysis,  80 

,  mistakes  as  to,  92 

of  Napoleon,  76 

experts,  87 

Herculaneum  papyri,  113 
Herschel's   finger-print    system, 

55 
Hypnotic  writing,  81 

Ink  in  writing,  105 

,  age  of,   105,  110 

,  differences  in,   114 

Insurance  frauds,  8,  10 

Lamson,  Dr.,  201 

Laundry  mark  identification,  35 

Lovibond's  tintometer,  108 


240 


INDEX 


Matlock  will  case,  143 
Maybrick  trial,   18,  206 
Microscope  in  forgery  cases,  93 
Milton's  Bible,  108 
Mirror  writing,  80 
Mistaken  identity,  39,  41 
Muller,  34 

Nairn,  Katharine,  183 
Napoleon's  signatures,  76 

Ogilvie,  trial  of,  183 
Overbury,  murder  of,  176 

Palmer,  trial  of,  18,  191 
Perreaus,  trial  of  the,  136 
Personal  identification,  37 
Photographic   identification,   48 

detection  of  forgery,  95 

Physiological  tests,  195 
Pilcher's  trial,  111,  149 
Poisons,  definition  of,  185 

,  miraculous  effects  of,  171 

Poisoning  trials,  171 

Police  dogs,  32 

Portraits,  identification  by,  27, 

28 
Preservatives  in  food,  224 
Purkenje's  finger  prints,  54 

Rudd,  trial  of  Mrs.,  138 
Russell,  Lord  William,  4 


Scientific  assistance  for  prison- 
ers,  13 

deduction,  6 

proof,  12 

Smethurst,  trial  of,  19 
Somerset,  Countess  of,  179 
Spencer  Cowper,  trial  of,  15,  85 
Standards  for  food,  234 
Suffolk  witches,  172 

Swan  and  Jefferies,  trial  of,  4 
Sympathetic  inks,  130 
Systems  of  identification,  48 

Tawell,  capture  of,  24 

trial  of,  187 

Telectrograph,  26 

Telegraph,    capture   by   aid   of, 

24,  25 
Tichborne  case,  46 
Turner,  Anne,   172,   177 
Typewritten  matter,  97 

Weston,  trial  of,  172,  176 
Whalley  will  case,  145 
Witnesses  as  advocates,    19 
Wireless  telegraphy,  25,  27 
Witchcraft  and  poisoning,  172 
Wood,  trial  of,  121 
Writers'  cramp,  78 

Yarmouth  murder,  34 


THE   END 


Press  of    Isaac  Pitman  &  Sons,  Bath,  England. 

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